Of Rituals and Chocolate Cream Pie
by Sidura
Summary: One of Sam's visions leads to Dean doing something that will take them a long way from home xover with Dark angel OK I suck at summaries, please R
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer - I own nothing and no-one. Probably a good idea really, I'd just lose them in my sock draw or something.

I have now had this beta'd, hence the changes to the bits I had previously posted - so have to say thanks to Twinkiecat and Rospberry for looking at this and giving me more input than I deserve so I can actually get my brain working again.

This chapter is firmly in Supernatural turf - then it does change please bare with it.

Pairings - Sam/OFC, John/Ellen, everyone else up for discussion.

* * *

"Dude, you okay?" Dean yelled through the door as he heard the taps being switched off. "Sammy?"

Dean took a step back as the lock on the door clicked. He waited nervously for his brother to come out of the bathroom in the latest excuse of a motel they were living in.

Sam swallowed trying to hold down the bile that had risen in his throat as he exited the bathroom. "We've got to go."

Dean nodded. He went back to his bed and started to pack his meagre belongings. "Where?"

"Georgetown." Sam picked up his pants. "Saw an ID badge."

"That's at least twelve hours out, man." Dean pulled his bowie knife out from under the pillow. "Even keeping to the good roads, I'm still gonna be tanking it."

Sam nodded as he headed for the door. He had stopped even half trying to pretend to settle in a room anymore: each night Sam would pack up everything he owed, just in case they had to leave quicker than expected. He told Dean it was so that they were prepared to a fast exit if they had too, if the Feds or another hunter came, but really it had more to do with the visions. The visions had been getting worse and they were still not getting there fast enough.

Either the demon got there first and killed the family, or the fire child the vision had shown him had already turned. It was getting to him, and Sam wondered how long before his brother would have to turn that knife he kept under his pillow on him. Not that he would blame him. But if he wasn't there, what would happen to Dean?

He was starting to have dreams of his brother hunting - not demons, but others, just normal people. But it wasn't just that. He saw Dean taking trophies, taking teeth. Without his family, what exactly would Dean have to live for? They'd lost Mom and Dad, the majority of hunters that they had met now considered Dean as much of a target as Sam, and the Feds had basically screwed up the little chance Dean had of having a normal life. Dean always had said he was a freak, but he was strong wasn't he? Surely he could cope without Sam?

* * *

"Look, man, if you think you are going hurl, at least roll down the window," Dean said,as the Impala hurtling down the highway.

"I'm not going to throw up in your car, dude," Sam said, scribbling away in his journal. "How far is it now?"

Dean took a casual look at the milometer. "It's been twenty miles and about fifteen minutes since the last time you asked. I'm sorry, Sam, but if I keep this pace up I'm worried she's going overheat before we hit Baltimore, and then we'll be stuck."

"Right." He continued to write a description of a house of books, of the death of a young woman, a child in the background, a description of the vision that had ended up when he threw up what remained of his lunch in the bathroom of that motel. Sam just couldn't take it anymore; he didn't want to face the idea of getting there too late again. He didn't think he could take another one dying.

By the time they got there, the sun was coming up.

Dean yawned as the car stopped. "Any idea where to go from here?"

"She was screaming 'Molly', and there was a child crying in the background."

"You said you saw an ID, right?"

"Yeah, looked like a Georgetown staff badge of some kind on her desk."

"So she works for the college and has got a kid; Campus Day care?" Dean suggested.

Sam sighed. "If it hasn't…"

"We don't know where else to start looking."

Dean put a hand on his brother's shoulder; Sam had become so dejected it hurt. They were trying, but they hadn't caught a break in a while. Dean was worried that maybe this was the way the demon was trying to push his brother over the edge. Andy had killed his twin to protect his girlfriend; Max had killed his old man and Uncle. Dean wasn't going to mourn any of them, but he was worried if things didn't turn soon, Sam would just give up, and then the bastard would have won.

"Look, man, we'll watch the place and see if you can spot her dropping off the kid, but I'm warning you if I get stuck with a pervert rap as well as everything else they want me for, I am so selling your ass to the highest bidder when we get stuck inside."

Sam gave his brother a little smile; trust Dean to ease the tension with a little gallows humour. "If we get arrested I'm going to be there with you."

"Seriously, if I'm going down for this, I am finding the biggest tattooed mother in the place and setting the two of you up for two cartons of cigarettes and a packet of cherry gum."

"You don't like cherry," Sam said as he folded up the map of the campus.

"That's how pissed I'd be."

Dean insisted that they leave the car and walk to the main day care building. "It'd look bad, two guys waiting in a car," he said, which, of course, Sam had to agree on. But the two of them skulking in the bushes - like that wasn't even worse.

It was a little after seven when Sam saw her. Her blue Taurus pulled up in the parking lot and she proceeded to help the small child out of the back of the car and go inside. She was dressed in an pencil skirt and a white blouse, they seemed to hug her figure in all the right places, while giving off a professional aura: smart, but not too smart. Sam licked his lips - had it really been that long?

"Tell me you're thinking of mommy here?" Dean joked.

"That's her," Sam said, not even bothering to reply to his brother's implication.

"You sure?" Dean said, noting the license plate of the car the woman had come in.

Sam nodded and started to head back to the Impala.

By the time they had gotten the details about who the car was registered to, it was a little after ten. Sam sat at his computer looking up the details of Amelia Watson's life. She was a TA in the Theology building, working on her Master's in late pagan/early Christian rituals of the Roman Empire. She had a three year old daughter, Molly, whose father had been a reserve called up to go to Afghanistan and had won the bronze star posthumously after saving two of his unit outside Kabul. There appeared to be no mention of any fire in her history, her late husband's, or that of anyone else she was connected to.

Maybe she was one of the ones that the demon had gotten early: no need for the push, it had always just been there. Sam hoped not. From what he had read, she was a devoted mom who had done everything right, even when the going got tough. She was trying to better herself - while raising her little girl on her own - after the death of a man who appeared to have been the love of her life.

Amelia walked down the rows of the lecture hall, collecting the last of the leftover handouts that had been left scattered by the freshman class, when Sam entered the room. "Can I help you?"

"I hope so. I was told at the office if I wanted to talk to someone about the proliferation of Isis worship throughout Roman society after Cleopatra that you'd be the person to talk to," he said, giving her his most innocent smile.

She unconsciously pressed the stack of papers in her hands tightly to her chest as she gave the shy young man her undivided attention. "No, I think you need to talk to the classical studies people. I'm into Christian belief systems."

"Oh, sorry, it was just that I was told you were interested in the integration of the religions of colonised provinces into Roman belief structure?" Sam asked, hoping not to be caught out; his knowledge on the subject was limited to the rituals that the early church used for banishing and vanquishing. He'd only been researching the historical and political side of the topic on the internet twenty minutes before.

"Yes, but my knowledge is kinda limited to the period just before the official adoption of Christianity as the single state religion of the Empire."

She took a breath as she pulled to the papers tighter to her, his eyes following the movement though he quickly looked away from her, embarrassed

Amelia bit her lip. Whoever he was, he seemed to be interested in her.

"I'm Sam, Sam Brooks," he said, offering his hand.

"Amelia Watson," she said as she rearranged her papers so she could shake it, Sam took it and smiled. "Yes, I know that."

"Of course," she said as a couple of the handouts fell to the floor.

Sam bent over and picked them up. "Classical studies, where would I find that?"

"If you go out the main door and turn..." She thought for a second, '_what would it hurt?'_ She would just be making sure he didn't get lost. Making a decision, she looked to Sam. "If you don't mind waiting till I drop these off, I could take you there?"

Sam stuck his hands in his pockets. "If you don't mind."

"Wait right here," she said, picking up her bag and heading out the door.

She found him standing where she had left him when she had come back from the office and as the two of them walked to the door of the block she was guiding Sam to, they talked about a number of things. How, when she had begun her thesis, she had expected to be over this side of the campus; but due to the money, office constraints, and the religious angle of her study, she was in the other building. Sam's interest in how belief influenced people's lives was also a topic. They both seemed hesitant to end the conversation. In the end, Amelia had asked him if he wanted to go for coffee after he was finished up. Sam had hesitated for about three seconds and then said he could meet her at one. She had agreed, saying she hoped he wouldn't mind if she brought her daughter along.

* * *

Dean was sitting on a bench watching the various people go by. "You find out anything?" he asked idly as Sam strolled over to him.

"She's alive, for a change," Sam said, but Dean seemed to be more interested in a couple of blondes in miniskirts that had just passed by. "I'm meeting her for coffee."

"What?" Dean's full attention focused on his brother. "You asked her out five minutes after meeting her? Who are you? Where is my brother Sammy?"

"Leave it alone, dude, it's just a cup of coffee, and she's bringing her daughter." Sam began to walk away.

"Well, if she's bringing her kid, it's only fair I get to go."

"What?"

"For one thing, I have to see if there is something up with the woman - she said yes to going out with you."

"She asked me," Sam replied.

"See, something definitely wrong with this woman. Secondly, if her kid gets to go, so should yours."

"You're sick, you know that," Sam said striding ahead.

"What?" Dean asked trudging behind. "You are always making cracks about how I'm so much shorter than you."

* * *

Sam couldn't get rid of Dean as he headed toward the coffee shop. Amelia was getting Molly settled with her juice as both brothers sat down.

"Hello," she said happy to see Sam, though she looked a bit taken aback at seeing his companion.

"Amelia, this is my brother Dean, he's picking up his car from the shop this afternoon," Sam said apologetically.

"Nothing much to do until its ready," Dean said. "Thought I'd spend a couple of hours with my little brother. Didn't know he had plans."

Amelia gave both brothers a smile. "Oh, we were just talking about pagan influences, thought we'd continue our discussion. You aren't interrupting anything."

"Mommy, can I have cake?" asked the little girl.

"Sure, honey," Amelia said.

"Why don't I help with that while you two talk?" Dean offered. "What type does she like?"

Molly looked up at her mother. "Can't I go pick out a piece?"

Amelia looked at Dean not too sure of the man; the counter was clear and she was only a couple of feet away. "Molly usually picks out what she wants."

Dean nodded. "Got no problem with that. If she points, I'll get."

The little girl pushed back her chair and started over to the counter smiling. Dean smiled and followed her as Amelia watched. "Molly, be quick okay."

"Yes, Mommy."

"He doesn't bite," Sam said, trying to reassure her.

"That's good," she said shyly, not wanting to sound too much like an overprotective mother. "So, Sam, what got you interested in this field?"

"My parents; my dad really always used to go on how belief can change the way you view the world," he said as Dean came back with cups of coffee for the three of them. Dean and Molly sat at the table beside them with the biggest chocolate cream pies the shop had.

"Really," Amelia said as she watched her daughter smash the large spoonful into her mouth. She was grateful that she would not have to deal with Molly's sugar rush in the afternoon.

"You?" Sam asked, pretending not to be embarrassed that his older brother seemed to have become engaged in a pie eating contest with the little girl.

"College; took history. It just seemed to fit me," she answered.

They seemed to talk forever, about her studies, the socio-political changes in Rome's late history, which symbols and ceremonies had been embraced and others vilified in the change over from the worship of the multitude of Pagan Gods, to the unified early church and how it affected people's lives. Amelia told Sam what had happened to Molly's father, and how she had adjusted to single parenthood, until it hit the time for the little girl to go back to day-care.

Amelia said goodbye to the brothers as Molly gave Dean a big hug and then gave both Dean and Sam a big wet kiss on the cheek leaving imprints of the chocolate that covered her face.

"If she was only fifteen years older, you'd be in heaven," Sam joked as they walked away.

"Hey, pie, coffee, and fine conversation. Who needs anything else?" said Dean, smiling as he rubbed the remnants of Molly's cake off his face. "So, you getting anywhere?"

"No vibe, and as I said, she doesn't fit the pattern."

"So, does that mean you'll be seeing her again?" Dean asked.

"Think it might just be better to keep an eye on her, from a distance."

"Sam, you are allowed to feel, you know."

"She might already be working for him."

"Maybe, but she did seem interested. It's a shame, really, that you don't want to see her again. I wonder how she is going to get into her office?" Dean started to twirl the set of keys he had taken from her bag around his finger.

"You …" Sam made a grab for the keys.

"Now, Sammy boy, there are impressionable young minds around here," Dean replied, holding them out of Sam's reach.

* * *

Amelia was sorting through her things, looking for her keys, when she heard Sam jogging down the corridor behind her. "Hoped to find you here," he said. "Didn't catch you at the day-care centre, and I didn't want to leave them there, but you left these at the coffee shop."

Sam held out the set of keys in his hand.

"Thanks," she said. He followed her into the office which was small with a connecting door on one side.

"Oh, that is Professor Ridley's office; he's at a conference at the moment. I'm covering his classes," she said, turning around to put her bag on her desk.

"That must be a lot of work, with your thesis and with Molly." Sam's voice came from barely a few feet away from her.

"Yeah, but I don't mind, it's all about time management really." She turned to face him, her back to the desk.

"You seem to handle everything well." Sam swallowed. '_Handle everything well?' What the hell was he saying? He should go, but his feet wouldn't play ball. Well actually they WERE moving - just in the wrong direction._

"Yeah, well, Chris, my husband, used to say I had to make lists for everything." Amelia felt her breathing become shallower. _God, she did not do this, hadn't since her husband had left for oversees - but every fibre of her being was screaming for him to stay_.

"I really have to apologise for my brother, hope he didn't get your daughter too hyped up with all that sugar," Sam said, his pupils getting darker.

"She enjoyed having a lunch date like mommy."

"Date?" Sam questioned, smiling.

"Yeah." _Had she said the wrong thing? She had only met him hours ago and now there was barely inches separating them._

"I suppose you could say it was a date. Just, we had chaperones." His voice was low and filled with something.

She crushed her mouth to his as she pulled him toward her, but he wasn't putting up much of a fight. He nipped at her jaw, and her hands worked their way under the back of his shirt as he lifted her onto her desk. She felt the taut muscles of his back as his mouth continued to make its way across her skin.

He stopped for a second.

"Don't stop, please," she begged.

"It's just," he started. She had pulled up his tee shirt as her hands began to explore.

Amelia took a breath, "I don't… wouldn't usually do anything like this."

He kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth before pulling back. Her skirt was riding up as one of his hands slowly working its way round her thigh; her breath hitched slightly, anticipating, almost purring.

"It's just," he began again, moaning slightly as her hands began to do something to cause what little blood left in his brain to head south. "Is that door locked?"

* * *

It was after five as Sam got back to the motel. His brother was sitting on the bed with a whetstone and one of his knives.

"So, you talk to her?" Dean asked as Sam headed for the bathroom. "Sam?"

Sam said nothing as he disappeared inside and turned on the shower.

Dean peered around the door and smiled. "We're feeling more relaxed, are we?"

Sam threw a towel in his brother's direction.

"Did you get that A+ you were looking for?" Dean asked as he pulled it off his head.

* * *

Sam knocked on Amelia's door, hoping that she'd still want to see him after the afternoon's events.

He heard footsteps running toward the door and Molly opened it, dressed in her pyjamas.

He crouched down. "Hello there, Molly. Is your mommy in?"

Molly weighed Sam up through the partly opened door. "You were at the juice place where we had pie."

"Yeah, I was."

"Is Bean with you too?" she asked.

Sam smiled. "No, Dean isn't with me. He had to stay home this time."

"Oh." Molly concentrated for a second. "He ate his way too fast. That gives you a tummy ache."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, it does. I'll tell him not to do it again."

"Good." Molly closed the door as Sam could hear her running back inside to get her mother..

Amelia opened the door all the way. "Four times in one day?"

Sam swallowed. She blushed as realising what she had just said.

"I'm not stalking you, honest. I just want to make sure you were okay. You know - after this afternoon."

She stepped outside closing over the door. "Well, my office took me the rest of the day to clean, but yeah, I'm okay."

"Good." He took a second. "I was wondering if you wanted to grab some coffee again, sometime? No pressure."

She smiled; it was those sweet, loyal, puppy dog eyes. "Yeah, maybe."

He backed down the porch steps. "Great, you've got my number. Just give me a call, okay?"

As Sam walked to the end of the street turning the corner to find the waiting Impala, he opened the car door.

"And?" Dean asked, before Sam even got inside.

"She's okay. Couldn't pick up anything with the EMF outside the house."

Dean began to sprawl out. "You talk to her?"

"Yeah," Sam said as he got into the car.

"Sure you couldn't get inside tonight?"

"No, Dean," Sam said. "But she said she might want to go get coffee."

"That my boy," Dean said, smiling.

"Oh yeah, Molly says you've not to eat your pie too fast again or you'll get tummy ache."

"Sound advice. That girl's going to grow up a bright one."

Amelia sat up; it was getting close to eleven, and she was exhausted.

Pieces of her thesis were all around her. She started to tidy up, putting her laptop into its bag. As she took it upstairs, passing by Molly's bedroom, the lights started to flicker.

She walked into her bedroom there was a man standing at the bottom of her bed.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

He didn't say a word, instead turning towards her. She took a step back as she saw the yellow eyes, her first thought being the safety of her daughter.

She felt herself being flung against the wall unable to move, unable to grasp what was going on. Unable to gain any control, she did the only thing she could, she begged, "Please."

He didn't say anything as her body moved up the wall, as it slide across the ceiling, as the blood dripped from the opening that had formed across her, as she begged for her life, for her child that slept in the room across the hall. A little girl that would be holding a worn teddy bear that had been given to her by the soldier who really didn't want to go overseas and leave his family. A soldier that didn't get a chance to see his little girl grow; a little girl whose mother had just lost the ability to plead any longer.

He didn't even bother to watch as the flames started, not caring about how it engulfed the body of his victim, how it spread across the ceiling and down the walls; his task with her was now done. He had seen it before, many times and with clarity in his mind he had no doubt he would see it again.

Dean stretched trying to get comfortable in the front seat of the Impala, as he and his brother sat outside the house, he heard the little girl scream.

Sam kicked in the door and was up the stairs within seconds. Molly was in the hallway screaming as the flames licked round the doorway of her mother's room.

Sam scooped the little girl up. "Don't look, don't look," he kept repeating to Molly as he held her tightly in his arms as Dean pushed pass him trying to get inside to the blazing room. But, it was too late; Amelia was gone.

As Sam carried the little girl outside, Molly stared vacantly off into space, holding tightly onto her mother's laptop bag and her own scorched teddy bear.

Dean ran out seconds later as smoke and flames engulfed the house.

The fire trucks came and so did the police, the brothers would have already left if it wasn't for the almost catatonic little girl hiding under Dean's jacket in the back of the Impala

"What are they saying?" Dean asked.

"Electrical fire: they can't find bodies. They think they both burned up." Sam turned and looked in the back of the car. "No one saw us."

"What?"

"None of her neighbours have said that they saw us coming out of the house."

Dean shook his head. "You have got to be out of your ever-loving mind."

"Dean, they think she's dead," Sam said with certainty.

"Sammy, you don't know that! You don't know that they don't have a witness."

"Dean, look at her," Sam pleaded. "She saw it; if the Demon isn't coming for her then she is going to spend her life in out and of foster homes. Her mother was all she had."

"You don't know that," Dean said, hoping to make his brother reconsider what he was asking. "She could have family somewhere and if not, she's young, someone will take her."

"Amelia was an only child, so was her husband. That means they'd first stick her in a foster or a group home, Dean, remember them? How often did we have to lie and cheat to stay out of them? She saw it all, you know she did. How is that going to gel with the social workers? They'll stick her on drugs, and then God knows what will happen to her."

"Sammy, I know you just screwed her mother, but that don't make you that kid's daddy! She ain't your responsibility. This ain't like Jess, you weren't in love with the woman. No way is this your fault!"

Sam just looked at his brother as he opened the door.

"Oh, Jesus, I am so fucking screwed," Dean said heading toward the driver's side. "We get caught with her and I am selling your ass for just the gum, you hear?"

"Look, short term we must know someone who can take her."

"Who, smartass?" Dean asked, starting the car up.

* * *

"Oh, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, you have got to be kidding me," Ellen said as Sam walked in with the tired little girl holding on to him for all she was worth.

"That's what I said." Dean followed on behind. It was eleven in the morning. Most of the other hunters had either left or hadn't gotten into the Roadhouse yet.

"Please tell me that she doesn't belong to either of you."

"Hell no, ma'am," Dean said firmly, sitting down on one of the stools and scanning the place for anyone who might want to put a cap in his brother.

"So you two thought that seeing how you left this place last time not on the best of terms, you'd bring a kid as a peace offering?" Ellen asked.

"No, we thought you might know someone who could take her," Sam said, placing Molly on one of the benches. He took off his jacket and covered her with it as the little girl finally began to shut her eyes to get some sleep.

"Why? Where's her momma?"

"Dead – demon got her last night, we got in the house too late," Dean said, sighing.

"Her daddy?"

"Dead. She's got no other family. I wasn't leaving her there; she'd be a sitting duck," Sam said quietly, trying not to wake the fitful child. "The authorities think she's dead."

Ellen glowered at Sam. "You better be sure of that, boy, or so help me…"

"We're sure," Dean said, praying that that was true. "They think her and her mother both burned up last night."

"So, who was he after?"

"Amelia, her mother," Sam said, stroking the little girl's hair.

"She one of your special children?" Ellen asked handing them both a bottle of beer.

"No, we don't think so, ma'am. We found her in our… eh'm… usual way. But she was just normal." Dean picked up the laptop bag. "We were wondering if Ash could take a look at this. It has her work on it."

"I'm not asking how you got that," Ellen said, heading toward the back.

"That went well," Sam said, once she was gone.

"I'm still not talking to you," Dean retorted.

* * *

Jo pushed open the door, carrying a crate of beer. She'd had gotten back home a few days before. Her mother hadn't said a word about things, had just given her a hug and a list of chores, not that she was complaining. The last two people on earth she had expected to see sitting at the bar were Sam and Dean Winchester.

Dean had kept to his word and called her, not that she'd expected that much from him. He'd just left a message that Sam was okay, hoped she was; said he was sorry for leaving her behind, but it was better that she hadn't gone with him, and that she should call her mother.

She hadn't talked to Sam at all. Wasn't sure he remembered about what he had done to her, not sure if she wanted to know if he did.

She put the crate on the bar. "Hello there. Long time no see."

Dean nodded; he knew this was going to be uncomfortable. "Hey, Jo, you came back."

"Yeah, just a visit though; I'm planning to set off again soon, yourselves?"

"Not sure," Sam said sheepishly. He remembered bits and pieces of the night he'd shot Dean, and he knew Jo had been there, but his brother refused to tell him the whole story.

Molly stirred, suddenly crying out for her mother. Sam rushed over, starting to rock her. "Hey, sweetie pie, it's okay it's okay."

"Who does she belong to?" Jo asked, somewhat surprised to see the display in front of her.

"Long story," Dean said turning back to her. "Hopefully, we're just dropping her off. Thought Ellen would know a family who could take her in."

"And if she doesn't?" asked Jo.

"We can't keep her. This ain't no life for a kid," Dean said resolutely, believing every word, even though in the past couple of hours he'd started to feel protective of the small child who had caused his leather jacket to smell of smoke and become damp through tears. "Especially seeing how she just watched her mother go up in smoke. I just have to convince emo boy over there of that."

"So, apart from that, why are you here?" Jo asked coldly. "You could have just dumped her and left."

Dean stared at her; he knew what she was really talking about. That night when he'd left her to go after Sam. "She's three years old, and she's just lost her mother. She barely knows me and Sam as it is. I'm gonna make sure that she'll get taken of." He ran his palm over his tired face, "I may be a bastard, Jo, but I not that much of a bastard, okay? Anyway, we need to see Ash."

"So that's the real reason you're here?"

He got that she was pissed at him, but he didn't need the spoilt brat act right now. "Think what you want. Jo, I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Look what the cat dragged in," Ash said, his loud voice breaking the tension as he walked into the bar, pulling on his over shirt, "Sam and Dean, how's life been a treating you two?"

"Oh, you know, five star living, hanging out by the pool, non stop chicks," Dean said, sarcastically, ignoring Jo who was still sitting beside him.

"Glad to hear things haven't changed for you," Ash said. "Understand you have something you want me to look at?"

"Yeah, this," Dean said, sliding the bag down the bar to Ash.

Molly's head popped up from Sam's arms, "That's my mommy's. Mommy said not to play wif that. That's stealing. I want my mommy! Where's my mommy?"

Dean swallowed; he'd heard that all night in the car. He slid of the bar stool and crouched down in front of the child on Sam's knee. "Listen, honey, I'm sorry but your mommy can't be with you now. We're gonna find someone who can take care of you, like your mommy did, OK?"

"When's my mommy coming back?" she asked, trying to hold back the tears.

Ellen gestured to Sam who passed the little girl to her.

"Come here sweetheart, my name is Ellen, and you must be tired. Why don't we get you cleaned up, and you can tell me all about your mommy, okay?"

As Ellen walked into the back room with the child, Dean and Sam turned their attention to the hillbilly geek, who was proceeding to examine the laptop.

"Give me five hours and you'll have everything you need, okay?" Ash nodded.

"I'll get a couple of cots made up in the back, you two look as if you could do with some sleep," Jo said, hopping off her stool. She looked at Sam for a second. "Best keep in there till me or my mom say so, alright?"

Sam knew what she was talking about. "Sure."

* * *

Sam had the dream again: Dean running in the woods. He looked a little younger than he was now, but it was definitely Dean. Maybe it was just that he seemed a little freer.

The man fell to his knees begging, but his brother's face showed no mercy, the man fell and then Sam watched as his brother pulled the pliers out of his back pocket.

"Sam, you okay?" Dean asked, waking his brother.

"What?" Sam asked as he awoke in a cold sweat.

Dean was concerned; if it wasn't the visions, it was this, and Sam never talked about the other nightmares. "You were yelling."

"Was I?" Sam swallowed the memory of his dream; it was still too vivid.

"Yeah, something about a blue lady?"

"I can't remember," Sam said lying. "What time is it?"

"A little after two, Ash has a couple of more hours work."

"You get any sleep?" Sam asked, knowing fine well that Dean had been existing on less than four hours sleep, fuelled only by caffeine and sugar; Sam felt a stab of guilt, knowing it was due to the visions, and who was on their tail. And there was no way Dean would get any sleep here, not in Hunter Central, and certainly not with Sam keeping him awake with his dreams.

* * *

"Right, from what I can see you met one clever lady," Ash said, pouring over the computer. Ellen was holding Molly in her arms; the little girl was wearing an oversized T-shirt, trying hard as she could not to fall asleep. The only way they had been getting the child to do anything in the past couple of hours was if she was with Ellen or if she knew exactly where Sam and Dean were.

"Yeah, sounds about right," Dean said, looking at Sam for a second; no dumb blonde for his brother.

"She may not have known about firewalls and passwords, but this list of rituals and names of deities, well, I don't mind telling you…" Ash sounded truly impressed.

"Ash, get to the point," Ellen said.

"Right, you said she wasn't one of the… you know." Ash turned to Sam.

Sam nodded. "No she wasn't. At least she didn't appear to be."

"Right, it is just these lists, they are … It looks as if she was researching demons, lots of demons."

Sam shook his head. "No, she was doing her thesis on later Roman beliefs, not demons."

"When Christianity took over?" asked Ellen.

"Yeah," Dean said.

Ellen bobbed the little girl who was starting to nod off. "To discourage a lot of local types of worship, the early church demonised a lot of pagan gods, you know. Like dancing with Pan became dancing with the devil."

Sam looked curiously at her. "So, you think that this list of local gods and beings?"

"Holy sh… crap," Dean said, remembering who exactly they had for an audience. "She had his name."

Jo peered at the list. "That's why your demon killed her?"

"Could be," Ellen nodded as she pulled the little girl's thumb out of her mouth. "They say names are power."

"We've just gotta work out which one it is."

"I don't think even Amelia would have known that," Sam said solemnly.

"You boys gonna stay for a few days, just to see what you can work out?" Ellen said, not really asking.

"I don't know, ma'am. Maybe it's best if we just take the information and go," Dean said, not wanting to put Ellen in the crossfire.

Ellen scowled at him. "Look, this little girl, she's messed up right now, she trusts you two and that is about all she trusts. You two brought her here so you're gonna help me fix her, you hear me?"

Both Winchesters looked at each other thinking that it probably wasn't best to argue.

* * *

Molly barely left Dean or Sam's side in the next couple of days, and if she wasn't with them, she was following Ellen around silently. She hardly talked to anyone apart from the three of them, and it was generally little things like she was hungry, or her bear had a booboo, and she insisted on calling Dean, Bean, which amused Sam no end. Dean responded by getting her to call his brother Sam-I-Am.

"This is a whole load of sh..."

"Dean," Sam said, barely looking up from the papers, but instead nodding to the small body in the corner of the room who was currently rearranging some of Ellen's pots and pans.

"Bean say a bad word?" asked Sam's small shadow.

Sam nodded. "Almost Molly, almost."

"It's just I have no idea where to start. How's your Amelia got this organised?"

"She wasn't my Amelia," Sam said regretfully. "She's organised this like you would a research project not a 'hunt the demon name game.'"

Dean stretched. "Right, it's just with all these rituals as well…"

"Some of them were important to Roman political life and got integrated into the early church setups," Sam said studiously.

"You know if it wasn't for the way we found this stuff I'd say you were enjoying this, geek boy," Dean said. He scrolled down the list of file names until he came to something interesting and clicked on it: "_Summoning / séances – non- deities."_

He sat there silently for a few seconds reading the various bits of information the woman had collected.

"Dean, you still with me?" Sam asked after few minutes; a quiet Dean, especially a quiet one after five minutes of belly aching, was not usually a happy Dean. Unless he'd found something important or something to entertain himself with, and Sam didn't think that there was anything on that laptop that could remotely fit in with one of the normal ways his brother found to entertain himself.

"Yeah, I'm still here." Dean smirked at his brother as he closed down the file, turning his attention to the little girl.

"Don't know about you, Molly, but I need some fresh air," he said, picking her up in his arms.

"We all go outside to play?" the little girl asked, somewhat frightened. Ellen had told her she had to go to work, and Sam-I-Am looked busy, like Mommy did after they got back from Day care. She didn't want to go outside and have him go away like Mommy, but she didn't want Bean to go away either.

"Sam," Dean said firmly, seeing the little girl's distress.

"What?"

"We're taking a break, okay? Ten minutes."

Dean sounded like their father for a second. Sam nodded; he didn't mind Dean sounding like John at all right now, especially if it meant that there was less of a chance of his dreams about Dean coming true. No way in hell would John Winchester have ever descended into madness and started to carve people up.

* * *

Sam woke up to find Dean was not in the other spare cot. He wandered through Ellen's house, which was only five minutes from the Roadhouse. It was surprising really: they had been there for almost two weeks, and they hadn't set foot in the place apart from that first night. Dean was going stir-crazy lying low like this, especially over the past few days. Sam knew he had been ducking out of the house before everyone was up, and part of him hoped that Dean was just avoiding Jo. He knew that the two of them had fought but Dean wasn't 'fessing up about what. He was always back just after breakfast and always had a little something for Molly.

Molly was trusting Ellen more and more, which was good. Dean had been right about the fact they couldn't look after her. Ellen could, or at least whomever she found to take the child would probably have less of a problem with Ellen dropping by to check on her.

He wandered through the house finally coming into the kitchen; he saw the note on the table.

'_Be back soon, hopefully with something to tell you. _

_If not back by morning DON'T come looking for me! _

_Please Sammy don't come looking._

_Take care of yourself bro' and the car._

_Dean.' _

Sam's heart jumped straight into his throat, especially when he saw the Impala still covered by a tarp in Ellen's back yard. What could Dean be facing that he didn't want Sam to look for him if he didn't come back? Had he worked it out? Was he planning to take on the thing himself? There were woods nearby. Sam broke out in a cold sweat. Was this it? Had Dean finally broken?

Jo walked in as Sam put on his jacket. "Where the hell do you think you are going?"

"Dean's taken off," Sam said, scrambling for his gun and a hunting knife.

"When?"

"Got no idea. His car's still here. He left a note: told me to take care of it."

"Jesus," Jo said.

"Where are you going?" Molly asked as she rubbed her eyes, she had woken up on hearing Sam leave his room, finally deciding to see what was happening on hearing voices.

"We going to get Dean, okay?" Sam crouched down to look at her.

"He said you were staying here with me," Molly replied.

Jo bent down beside her. "When did you see him, sweetie?"

Molly looked at Sam, she was still a little unsure of Jo. Sure, she didn't mind her when the other three where around, but she still didn't know how to take the woman whose hair was the same color as her mommy's.

"It's OK, you can talk to her," Sam said, smiling reassuringly.

"Bean said he had gotten the cabin ready and if his surprise worked Sam would be happy. If it didn't, I was to take care of Sam, and make sure he didn't cry," Molly said, obviously frightened. "Did I spoil it, his surprise?"

"It's okay, honey. No, you didn't. It is just that my brother is bad at keeping secrets, so I knew he was up to something," Sam said. "You should go back to bed."

Molly shook her head.

Jo straightened the little girl's nightshirt. "Molly, do you know where the cabin is?"

"Bean said it was on the big hill we passed to go to the car store."

"The place on highway; I know it." Jo picked up the jacket hanging by the door.

Sam looked at her. "You are not coming, Jo. Ellen's not back yet and someone's got to take care of her."

"Like hell I am. I've had one Winchester tell me to stay put, I'm not having the other one order me around. Anyway, you owe me, Sam."

He stopped for a second. He'd guessed as much from the little of what he could remember from when he was possessed.

"You can't drive out of here, Sam, and you know it. There are people at that bar who want you dead. They won't take a shot at me. Molly will have to come with us, and she can stay in the car." Jo said firmly, her hand situated on her hip, "We'll leave my mom a message to meet us; hopefully we'll find him and drag his sorry ass back here before that. You know he'll be up to something stupid."

Sam thought for a second. She was right about the hunters, no way he could be certain that someone wouldn't take a shot at him, and that would do Dean no good. But having the kid in the car? He was turning into his father right before his eyes. He would kill Dean for this, better yet he'd let Ellen do it, which was pretty much a certainty when she found out that Dean had been the reason that they had to drag Molly along. Hell, he'd let her do the same to him, and he wouldn't put up a fight .

"Right, but you stay behind me Jo. You see him, you do not go anywhere near him. You wait for me, and if anything happens, you are straight in the car and take her home," Sam said firmly. When he found his brother, he was going to kill him.

* * *

Dean lit the candles and started sprinkling the various herbs and roots, following the instructions carefully. He felt like an idiot for doing this, and there was no way he would have told Sam what he had planned. But if it worked, he would let Sam rib him over it for all eternity.

Ash had been right: Amelia had been a very smart lady, catching on to the fact that the many institutions and official religions of Roman had come from all over the Empire. Rome had allowed many of its provinces to keep their local customs and faiths, just to keep the peace. However, as the legions swept through Europe, these local customs had been passed onto other areas, mingled, evolved, taking on new meanings. Rituals in one region had been altered in another, taking on new forms.

When Christianity hit, the Church had been forced to accept that the providences had their own ways of doing things when it came to religion. It had cherry picked the bits and pieces it had liked from all over the Empire, while crushing the parts that they couldn't take, though this had taken time.

He began to read over his notes; he had everything that the ritual had called for, with a couple of exceptions. He'd drawn the key of Solomon on the floor around his summoning (and that had been the real bitch, because being artistically creative was something no-one could accuse him of). He had his gun loaded and ready just in case it went wrong. He wasn't putting Sam through that if he didn't have to.

He took off his shirt and cut into his flesh just enough to get the blood flowing, just like Amelia's notes had described, and he began.

He was more than halfway through before the candles started to flicker and the room started to heat up; almost done when Sam and Jo burst in.

From the back seat of the Impala, Molly heard the yelling and saw the light. Sam had told her to stay in the car no matter what; but the light, it was like the fire she saw the night her mommy had gone away, so she let herself out of the car and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her into the cabin.

"Sam!" the little girl screamed, and she ran full force into the back of Jo's legs causing Jo to take a step forward and knock over one of the bowls that Dean had set up.

"No!" shouted Dean as Sam turned, falling into the circle There was a bright flash, and then it all went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer - Please see previous chapter.

As I said it is a bit of a monster so would appreciate thoughts and help of anyone and everyone.

* * *

Sam woke to find himself staring up at a bright blue sky. Jo moaned beside him, and he turned, lifting himself on his elbows to see if he could see his brother. Dean was lying on the other side of what appeared to be the remains of the cabin floor. He was bleeding slightly and looking more than a little embarrassed that they had caught him

"What the fuck have you done, man?" Sam yelled accusingly as he stood up.

"You shouldn't have come here," Dean snapped back. "I could have finished, I could have helped him!"

"Dean, what is going on?" Jo asked, barely controlling her anger. "Where are we?"

"I have no idea; it didn't say we'd move, it would just…"

"Just what? What the fuck did you do?"

"It's gone wrong, it's all gone wrong," Dean despaired, slumping forward. "I told you not to come looking for me!"

"Dean, tell me what you were doing. Were you trying to summon the demon?" Sam asked, hoping a more calm tack would help.

"Do I look like that much of an idiot?" Dean looked his younger brother as he began to shiver slightly. Sam unzipped his jacket and took off his overshirt, handing it to his brother.

"Well, what the fuck were you doing, man? Auditioning for the undead version of the Chippendales?" Dean snorted his reply.

"Guys, where's the kid?" Jo asked, looking around. They were in a clearing where the cabin had obviously been. All that remained were the floorboards they were standing on.

"You brought Molly?" Dean bolted upright. "You bastard Sam, you total bastard."

* * *

They walked round the clearing shouting her name, hoping that she was around somewhere.

"Look, it's morning. Something happened to the cabin, and the car is gone," Jo said. "Maybe my mom came and got Molly, and she decided to leave us here overnight as a lesson."

Dean nodded before adding caustically, "Yeah, and Ellen decided to remove three walls and the roof while she was at it."

"Well, I don't fucking know, do I?" Jo retorted angrily.

"Dean, what was it you were up to?" Sam stood firm in front of his brother.

Dean bit his lip before he explained. "In the database, there was a ritual."

Sam didn't move. "And?"

Dean took a few steps around him before Sam grabbed his arm and fixed him with a stare. Dean didn't want to do this - it had gone wrong and that was it.

"What ritual, Dean?" Jo asked.

"It was kinda of like a summoning, but not."

"Who did you summon, Dean?" Sam asked angrily. Did his brother just release something else that wanted to kill them?

"Dad. I was trying to get Dad's soul out hell, all right?" Dean replied, pulling his arm away from his confused brother.

"You tried to bring your father back?" Jo asked.

Dean stormed onward toward the road; it looked more of a dirt road in the light of day than the road it had looked at night

He paused for a second. "No. I just wanted to release his soul," he said, then resumed walking.

Sam watched him walk off; he knew what performing a ritual like that meant to his brother. He knew it was eating Dean up knowing what his father's eternal soul was probably going through day after day.

Dean stopped and turned round. "It was a ritual for summoning the soul of a loved one. You could bring it to you, and then you can help it cross over to the right side."

"So, you thought you could summon Dad's soul and let it pass over peacefully."

"Yeah, well, I had to try," Dean explained, deflated.

"Why didn't you tell me, bro?"

Dean started walking down the road trying to flag down a ride. "You'd have tried to stop me."

"Damn straight we would have," said Jo, glaring at him.

* * *

As they got back to the Roadhouse, a couple of cars passed by.

Jo was still angry with Dean, and as for Sam, she just didn't want to talk to him. She stormed forward before stopping. The Roadhouse was different; it wasn't a bar anymore, it was a diner.

Jo looked scared. "What?"

"I'll check the house." Dean started to take off down the road.

"Jo, we'll find out what has happened, okay?" Sam said reassuringly.

She took off running and burst inside. The place looked like any other roadside diner, with its Formica-topped counter, and booths running down the sides.

"Hi, can I help you?" a waitress, walking past carrying a coffee jug, asked.

"Where is she?" Jo asked agitatedly, desperately looking around.

"Look, lady, if I don't know who you're looking for, how can I help you?" the waitress said.

"Ellen, Ellen Harvelle?" Sam added clarifying who Jo was asking for; the waitress looked at them for a second.

"Harvelle, you say? Funny, this place used to be the Harvelle Roadhouse, hasn't been in years though." The waitress shrugged and started to walk off to serve her customers.

Jo desperately grabbed at the woman's arm. "What do you mean?"

"Hey, watch it," the woman said, trying not to drop the pot.

"She's sorry," Sam apologised. "What do you mean it hasn't been in years?"

"They sold up; about, The woman turned her head toward the kitchen. "Hey, Frank, when did they build this place?"

"Two years ago," said the large short order cook as he came through the door.

"Yeah, be over two years ago."

Jo started to get aggravated. "No! She would never sell."

A petite brunette came into the diner and sat by the counter; Frank went over to her and kissed her tenderly on the cheek.

Sam took a breath, "Do you know where Ellen went?"

The waitress nodded as realization blossomed across her face. "Oh, you another one of those are you?" She went into the back and pulled out a postcard. "Getting less of you guys lately, I thought you'd all heard that they moved to Seattle. Here's the address, though you two are younger than the ones that usually ask."

"Seattle?" Jo was confused. Why would her mother be there?

"Oh yeah, honey. They followed that girl of theirs, and she went looking for him they say. Big stink, I'll tell you; but that Molly Winchester always was a headstrong one. Poor Ellen, what a mess, not like she didn't enough on her plate what with that husband of hers. He was as stubborn as a mule most times,. but after what they say happened, you can't blame the man."

"Wait? Did you say Molly Winchester?" Sam asked, stunned.

"Yeah, first that kid took off - good riddance if you ask me - but then Molly did too. Ellen was beside herself with worry, and as for John, if he saw that boy again I swear he was going to put a bullet in him. Good thing that girl was adopted 'cause the way that boy worked his way through this town, I don't think her being blood would have stopped him." She went back to serving customers.

Jo slumped in one of the chairs. "John and Ellen Winchester?"

Dean came running in the doorway, "House is gone, and I found this."

He threw the newspaper on the table between Jo and his brother, pointing wildly at the date: May 3rd, 2026.

"Holy shit," Sam said, oblivious to Jo, who was repeating the words, "John and Ellen Winchester," under her breath, as he stared in horror at the paper.

Dean stood there, waiting for Sam and Jo to take in what he had found, he felt a tap on the shoulder; he straightened and turned round. "Yeah?"

He went flying over the table as the fist connected with his jaw.

"Frank!" the petite brunette yelled.

"You stay away, you hear me?" Frank threatened. Dean took a swing at him, sending the man to the floor.

The whole diner just looked at him, and the waitress, who had been talking to Sam and Jo, dropped her coffee pot. "Oh, good Lord, he's back."

Dean started to head toward the door, "Think it's time to go."

"Think you're right," Sam said getting up from the table as him and Jo followed Dean outside.

The three of them had reached the parking lot when the brunette came running out.

"Wait," she called.

The three of them stopped, and turned.

"Oh, I never thought you'd…," she pulled Dean down toward her, threading her hands though his hair, her mouth catching his in a passionate kiss as she worked her way into a ball of want and need.

Frank stumbled out of the diner holding a hand to his bleeding nose. "Geraldine, you get away from him!"

She pulled away, her eyes full of desire as she looked at Dean. "You'd better get out of here. But if you're ever back this way, call me."

She ran back toward the diner, and Frank.

"What the fuck was that?" Sam asked.

"How the hell do I know?" a confused, and more than slightly aroused Dean, asked. "Seriously, I only went back to the house."

"What the hell did you do, Dean?" Jo asked accusingly.

"Ten minutes I was away from you guys. Ten minutes!" Dean was insulted. Jo and Sam stared at him for a second, neither responding to his statement causing Dean to rolled his eyes.?) "So, what did you guys find out?" he asked

"They're in Seattle," Jo snapped, angrily storming off.

"What happened?" Dean quickly asked his brother.

"Well, not only have you stranded us nineteen years in the future, but it appears Ellen's married to someone called John Winchester."

Dean stood still as he watched Jo try to get into one of the cars in the lot.

"You're shitting me."

Sam looked at his brother. "Yeah Dean, I'm shitting you, 'cause I have nothing better to do than make that shit up."

* * *

The road to Washington State had been a long one. From what they could find out in various bars along the way, there had been something called 'the pulse'; the US was now a total mess, and you didn't venture to the West Coast unless you had a death wish, or a serious amount of cash to pay for protection, _'cause that's where the freaks lived'_.

They had kept to the back roads, had not seen the large towns or the cities but when they had gotten to Seattle, they found out exactly what the people they had talked to meant. It was zoned off into sectors. Sam reasoned that it would be quicker to skirt round the police gates if they got rid of the car, and the other two agreed.

It was funny, Sam thought, three weeks of this and he hadn't had a single vision, not a single dream of his brother attacking people. Since the first time since Amelia's death, he felt somewhat at peace, even though it was as if the rest of the world had gone to hell.

After searching for a number of hours, they finally found the address on the postcard The block of houses looked run down. It was situated near a warehouse district, and Sam, Dean and Jo saw various couriers and labourers passing by on their way to and from work. The three of them stood there, at the bottom of the steps, as they tried to work out what to do.

"I'm going in," Jo announced.

"Wait a minute here, and think," Dean said. "Firstly, this may not be our world; it could be a freaky Superman bizarro one. Secondly, if it is our world, then that means it's twenty years in the future and your mother is now in her sixties. So, her long dead daughter striding in there is either a) gonna give her a heart attack, or b) which is more likely gonna get you shot!"

"I'm not staying out here, not when she's…" Jo was cut off.

"What? Married to our long-dead old man?" Dean sighed heavily. "Look, I know I fucked up major style here, but us jumping out shouting 'hi there' is not going help things, is it?"

"I'm not staying out here!" She walked up the stairs and knocked on the door.

"I hate to agree with her, but she's right, Dean," Sam said, taking a couple of the porch steps at a time.

"Great. I get outvoted by geek boy and amateur girl," Dean muttered as he grudgingly followed.

They could hear laughing inside, lots of people. Great, Dean thought, let's interrupt them while they're having a party. Part of him hoped that this was some parallel world. If it was, would that mean that there were other versions of him, his brother, or even Jo?

Sam banged on the door and they waited. It seemed to take forever for someone to answer. Sam swallowed, this was nerve-racking; what the fuck were they meant to say? "Hi Dad, glad to see you're out of hell. Yeah, it was us, got thrown forward in time 'cause of it. By the way, quick question, how long have you been doing Jo's mom?"

The door was opened by a guy with glasses, he was covered in paint. He looked at the three of them for a second, gesturing them inside, saying to Dean, "Hey, muto, you're back. You are not Mr Popular round here, just warnin' you. Who are your friends? You lost the ability to speak? Come on, bip, bip, bip."

The three of them walked inside the door; a group of people were in the process of painting the front room. Sam looked around, a couple of them looked slightly 'wrong' as if they had been in an accident or something. This is what the guy they hustled at that bar in Wyoming had meant when he said the West coast was full of freaks.

"Hey, gang, look whose decided to come back to give us a hand! And he brought some help," the guy who opened the door, announced.

Suddenly, a large blur slammed Dean up against the wall with a ferocious growl. Two of the others in the room produced weapons from somewhere, and a slight young woman stepped between them and the guy who had let them in.

Dean was dangling a clear foot above the floor, and the guy, who looked slightly canine, did not appear to want to let him go. Sam went to help, but the slight woman girl moved quickly, tripping him up, sending him to the ground. Seconds later, she had immobilised and disarmed Jo.

"What the hell?" someone asked. Sam knew that voice; it had only been weeks since he'd heard it last. He swallowed heavily and looked up, feeling guilt pressing down on him, memories of what had happened still fresh in his mind. "Amelia?"

She stood there scarf covering her head and paint specks covering her face. "What?" She was disorientated by his saying of that name. She looked at the dog man holding Dean up against the paint covered wall.

"Joshua," one of the men said firmly; he was tall also wore glasses, and seemed to be slightly better dressed than the others. "Put him down, Joshua."

The dog man growled again. "Not medium fella," he said with certainty, causing the others in the room to burst into chatter.

The first man, 'Normal' someone had called him, looked confused. "You sure?"

"Not medium fella," Joshua stated coldly.

The others stayed still, guns drawn on them, as the one someone had called Logan pulled out a cell and started to call someone.

'Amelia' squatted down to Sam, and touched his face. "Sam-I-am?"

The woman who disarmed Jo pulled her back. "Sorry, Moll, until we get the all clear you don't go near."

"Molly?" Sam asked, trying to get up.

"Molly, move," the girl said. "G2, now!"

"Yeah, right, G2," Molly said, running into one of the back rooms. A lizard face man chomping on a cigar came out; he looked at the three of them, especially Dean. "Well strip me naked, bend me over, and present my scaled ass to the familiars. Not another one!"

"Thanks for the image, Mole," Logan said. "Van should be over in ten to pick them up."

Molly came back into the room. "They're ready to go. Mole, you take them to the veterans tonight. You hear me? Close down TC and get all G2, and I mean all, down with the veterans."

The lizard man looked at her. "What? I get the lock down, but all of them and the veterans? It's cold and damp down there."

"I don't care! You take them there, nowhere else. If they are anywhere else, I will come in there and cut off whatever reproductive organs they gave you," Molly yelled. "Max will back me on this!"

"Max ain't here Moll, and who says you get to say where…?" the woman with the gun trained on Jo said.

"Gem, this isn't the time to argue," Molly said firmly. "Trust me, if there is any chance that they are who I think they are, then all G2 should go to the veterans."

On seeing Molly's agitated state, Logan added, "It's easier to defend, Gem."

"Right." The red-haired girl put the gun closer to Jo's brow.

Dean was still scrambling against the wall. Molly patted the dogman on the shoulder. "Joshua, put him down, please."

The dog man looked over at Logan who nodded. Joshua grudgingly lowered Dean to the floor, growling at him again before taking a step back.

"Not medium fella," he hissed.

"Thanks," Dean said rubbing his throat, as he took a long look at Joshua, "Think you earned your dog biscuit today fido."

One of the others grabbed Dean's arm and twisted him round so another one, Biggs; Sam thought he had heard someone call the guy, could pull the collar of Dean's overshirt down. Sam could see the expression on his brother's face Dean couldn't move, as he was held firm against the wall. Sam saw the guy shaking his head as he released him. They proceeded to do the same thing to him and Jo.

As Mole went into the back room, Molly watched as Sam was hauled to his feet. "It can't, it can't be Sam-I–Am," she said, shaking her head.

"Molly, we're going to take them to Sam Carr," Logan said.

She nodded, turning to look at him. "Mom and Dad - what will I say?"

"Nothing yet, not till we get it confirmed who the fuck they are," Biggs said.

* * *

They had been bundled out of the back of the house into a van. Jo, Sam and Dean found themselves faced with the guy Biggs, and the man they had called Logan. As a couple of the other got in the front.

"And you two just couldn't wait to go inside," Dean mumbled, while trying to loosen the restraints around his wrists. Sam just sat silently, staring at the woman in the passenger seat who had taken him down. To say the small woman was freakishly strong was an understatement.

"This is all your fault," Jo spat out in Dean's direction.

Dean looked at her. "Grow up, Jo. You've been spouting that tune since we got here, and it ain't changed things one bit."

The van stopped, and they were pulled into some sort of clinic; Biggs continued to train his gun on them.

A man in a white coat walked in and greeted Logan, who this 'doctor' and the others were treating as if he was in charge After getting all the facts of the situation, the 'doctor' turned his attention to the small group of confused individuals in front of him. He stared at them and proceeded to walk round them, weighing them up individually.

"Remarkable."

"Long time since I've been called that," Dean joked, hoping that would ease things.

The man stopped and turned to Biggs and Logan, slightly shocked.

Logan smiled a little and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "I know."

"Like we don't have enough problems as it is," Biggs said.

"Do you know who I am?" the 'doctor' asked them. He brushed Jo's hair from the back of her neck for a second. Both brothers tensed slightly, not liking the fact that this guy was touching her. He took a step back after seeming perturbed about not finding something. "Should we?" Sam asked.

"It's just a question. My name is Dr Sam Carr. You've met Mr Biggs and Mr Cale," he said.

"And Dogman and Lizardboy," Dean said, not liking the current situation one bit.

"Joshua didn't take to him," Biggs smirked.

"I can imagine," Dr Carr said, examining the back of Sam's neck.

"Where are Ellen and Molly?" Sam asked.

"We ask the questions," Biggs stated.

The doctor turned to Logan. "I'll need to run tests, full blood and tissue workups as well as skeletal and muscle profiles; chromosome typing as well. I'll need to get as much genetic information as I can."

"That's why we brought them to you, Doc." Biggs said answering Dr Carr's question before Logan got a chance to open his mouth.

"Obviously you have what you need for them," Logan said, nodding to Sam and Dean. "What about her?"

"Family comparison would be advantageous. You talked to Ellen?"

"Mom and Pop are a couple of hours out," Biggs said. "Moll and Joshua should be on their way here. Though it depends how soon they can calm Normal down."

Dean, Sam and Jo were ushered into another room; scrubs were thrown at them as they where freed from their restraints, they were ordered to shower and change, by Biggs, as the others watched on. Dean moved to say something but took a step back noting the 9mm in the guy's belt, guessing that most of the others in the room where armed as well. Logan realising their understandable discomfort nodded toward one of the others who disappeared.

An orderly appeared with a screen to provide some privacy for Jo, but the girl, Gem, followed her round it as all bar one of the armed men left as Dean and Sam resigned themselves to doing as they were told.

Once changed, the three of them found themselves in a bare examination room, the clothes they had arrived in gone. They were left to await the next indignity.

"Great, Dean," Sam said accusingly as his brother hopped on a gurney. Jo shivered and tried to comb out her damp hair with trembling fingers.

"Look, so far they think we are 'remarkable' and they ain't tried to kill us," he said, then he remembered the mutant called Joshua's reaction to him. "Well, they ain't tried to kill you. That actually makes a change."

"Shut up, Dean." Jo said.

After about twenty minutes, the doctor returned. He was flanked by two men with guns, and he was holding syringes.

Dr Carr looked at them for a second, and sensing their apprehension, tried to put them at ease. "I'm just going to take some blood and tissue samples so I can run some tests."

"Tests, why do you need to run tests?" Jo asked, though he didn't answer her question. He did however, proceed to show them the empty syringes in an attempt to calm their fears.

As the doctor left the room Sam caught a glimpse of the girl who was in the apartment earlier; she was the living ghost of her mother, the only real difference being the color of her hair. Although Sam had only known the woman for one day, the memory of Amelia's death cut him deeply.

"Molly!" he yelled as the door closed.

She turned around and looked at them. She had Logan and Joshua at her side, and the dogman didn't look too happy.

As time passed, the three of them stalked round the room growing more and more restless in the small room with the tiny barred window and single locked and most definitely guarded door. They knew this as they passed the armed men each time they had been dragged out for the tests, they had been first stuck in MRI machines, then forced onto treadmills; not to mention the various other tests. Including more needles than Dean could count – he swore that he would never look at a guinea pig in the same way again.

The sun had gone down, when they had been finally given something to eat, left to rest for a few hours before the next round of tests. This gave them only a short time to come up with a plan to escape from the small room, that had only one way in and one way out, this is when they heard a commotion outside.

"I want to see her. I want to see her now!" a voice shouted. Jo's face lit up; she ran to the door and tried to pull it open.

"Mom, I'm in here. Mom!" she cried. Both Sam and Dean ran to the door to help her.

"I don't care what you say. You can't tell us that they're here and expect us to sit and wait, Logan," another voice yelled. "I am not one of your damn causes, and I don't take orders from you or any of Max's little soldiers!"

Sam stepped back for a second. No, it couldn't be. Dean still pulled at the door as Jo continued to pound away on it.

"Dad, we've got to get all the results in. They're not making any sense." They could hear Molly's voice. "Their chromosomes are reading normal, they've got scars that are too old for them to be clones, and they're ordinary. Dad, it can't be them, it doesn't make any sense."

"This is our family business, Molly, not theirs. When has it made sense?" Ellen asked.

"I know, but," Molly tried to argue, "Dad. Please."

The handle of the door moved before the door swung open and he was standing there. They both were there. Ellen just looked over and saw her little girl; Jo threw herself into her mother's arms. Ellen looked different, her hair had a bit of white in it and there were lines on her face, but Jo just didn't care. All the fear that had built up in the time that she had been in this crazy place came out, she began to sob.

Sam just stood there staring shaking his head. "No, you're dead. We burnt your…"

"How?" Dean asked unsure to what was going on.

John just stood there, tears rolling down his checks. He grabbed Sam and hugged him tightly. Dean took a step back before John shot out an arm, clutching at him, and pulling him close. He held onto both his boys; he was never going to let them go ever again.

"John?" Logan asked.

"They're ordinary, right?" John asked.

"As far as we can tell," Dr Carr stated. as he stood behind Logan in the hallway, "All tests show that they're not carrying anything communicable. No familiar traits were found or anything else related to Manticore. As for them not aging, I have no idea. There were no crystalline remnants that could be put down to cryosuspension in any of their systems. But to be honest, John, why would anyone want to do anything to your family twenty years ago?"

"Then we're taking them home," John stated. "Anything else you need, you can get it there."

"Dad?" Molly said.

"Girl, get them some clothes," John said. "They're coming home with us."

"Sure, Dad," Molly said.

* * *

When they arrived back at the house no-one was sure what to say. The dogman insisted on coming with them, as did Biggs, that was until John forcefully told them 'no'; although he relented at Joshua when the dogman began to wine, saying something about how he had to stay until little and medium fellas came back.

Salt lines had been laid, and Dean was damn sure the first glass of water Ellen had given them had definitely spent some time in a church font. When the three of them didn't start blowing chunks of pea soup, Ellen actually began to relax. However, John insisted that he and Ellen drank as well, just to reassure the three of them.

John looked so much older now, still strong, but his beard was more white than black. He was in his late 60's now; if they could believe that, not bad for a dead man.

Sam tugged on the shirt he was wearing, it kind of itched. Molly had said that various people had donated the clothes, though the underwear was new, and so were his and Jo's boots, someone they knew was the same size at Dean. Sam bet that the majority of the clothes he was now wearing belonged to the dogman, and that he would be covered in hair for weeks.

Sitting around the kitchen table Dean, Sam and Jo talked about how they'd woken up and not known where they were. How they'd made their way to Seattle, how the world they had known had changed in what seemed less than a heartbeat.

Jo kept asking what happened to the Roadhouse, where was Ash? To be told he was alive and well, living in what remained of Denver with some ex Las Vegas showgirl.

Bobby hadn't made it through the pulse; looters. It had been quick, John had said. People had been scared out of their minds and had taken to looting, acting as a mob. The power grids had gone down, and Bobby had a couple of old gas powered generators in his yard, they had just come to take them. The three of them and Ash had just boarded themselves in the roadhouse until the worse had passed.

As for his coming back, John explained that the first thing he remembered was waking up in some kind of circle; Ellen had been standing over him with a little girl in her arms. She had gotten the two of them to the nearest hospital. He was suffering from severe dehydration, as well as other things, and the girl had lost a lot of blood. After he had gotten out of the hospital, he hadn't known what to do; he'd tried to find the three of them, tried to find the demon in case it had been involved, but all trails were cold. He'd hunted a bit but always ending up coming back to the Roadhouse, and then one day he just stayed. Jo didn't look happy about it.

Ellen explained that with Jo's disappearance, and the time that Molly had to spend in the hospital, she couldn't give the child up and had ended up raising her as her own. Stubborn child, she'd mutter every once in a while, though she held onto Molly's hand through most of the conversation. Sam asked about the dogman – who was he, what was he?

The dogman explained that his name was Joshua, he was father's first. Molly explained about the transgenics, about how the majority lived here, to which Dean asked if they were hunting them these days.

John laughed. "No, but we know one or two who could definitely use a bullet up the ass."

Ellen smiled at that comment. She explained that although neither she nor John actively hunted anymore, they were now kind of a 'go between' for hunters coming into the area and something called TC. If the hunter wasn't sure if there were transhumans in the area he was heading to, he'd come to them. He'd be hooked up with some information and something called an X-6 to help him. If one was available, he'd be on his way. In return, any hunter with intel regarding some sort of snake cult would pass it TC's way.

Sam was full of questions regarding how they'd found out about the transgenics, why come to Seattle, and why did the waitress in the diner say that Molly had run off to go looking for someone?

John nodded and looked at Ellen, telling them they would explain that in the morning, but it was late, and the three of them had probably not had a good nights sleep in about, say, 20 years. As the family went to bed, the dogman seemed to take up residence in the hallway Dean looked at him for a second, he'd always wanted a dog growing up, but why did his family now have to get one that was almost 7 foot tall?

* * *

First, he heard the footsteps, not loud ones. He figured it was Jo was getting up for a drink or something. Dean opened an eye to see a shape towering over him. He knew that it damn well wasn't Sam.

Dean jumped up, slamming his palms into the intruder's chest, causing it to fall over Sam who was sleeping, sprawled out on the floor. It didn't stay down for long, Dean was barely on his feet when suddenly, it was up again, facing him

Sam was up now as well, though the intruder grabbed Sam, throwing him against the wall allowing it a clear path to Sam's brother. Dean had his knife ready, but then he heard the hammer of the gun being cocked back as the lights flicked on.

"What's your mission and designation?" the voice ordered. Dean flinched as the lights flicked on, it was his voice. Hell he was looking into his own eyes

"Your mission and designation soldier!"

"Alec! Dean! Stand down," Ellen yelled, as she and the others appeared in the open doorway.

Dean wasn't sure what to do; Sam rubbed side, that hurt. He looked up and saw his brother poised with his bowie knife, having a gun pointed at him by his brother? Sam blinked.

"Alec, you were told to stand down," John said. "This is my house, you do as you're told."

Alec just stared at Dean; as he slowly lowered the gun, Dean lowered the knife.

"What the fuck?" Jo muttered as she got up from the other battered couch she had been sleeping on.

Alec grabbed Dean's head, looking at the back of his neck.

"Alec!" John shouted. Both Dean and Alec looked over at John.

"Dad?" Dean asked.

"Pops?" came Alec's question.

Joshua turned to Molly. "Medium fella back."

She nodded as see surveyed the scene. "Yep, there goes the conversation we were saving for tomorrow."

"Jesus, you're bleeding," Ellen said to the figures in front of him

"Nice of you to notice," Dean said, wiping the blood from his jaw from the split lip he had received in the scuffle.

John sighed. "Alec, what have you done now?"

"Shit," Dean's double said looking at his bleeding shoulder, "Must have torn it open."

"Let me guess, you got shot – again!" Molly said. "What is it with you? You and Max go out and play and you always come back with a bullet in you."

"I took it out this time," he said, giving her a little grin. Dean watched the look on his double's face, it was like looking in a mirror, and that was creepy.

Ellen returned with the first aid kit. "Sit down here, boy."

Alec sighed and stepped over to her, throwing his gun to Joshua. "You know, one of these days, you actually got to start treating me according to my rank, Ellen."

"Rank? What rank would that be? The one no-one outside Terminal City is suppose to know you have? Or is it the biggest asshole in Seattle one?" Molly enquired, as she went for some ice for Dean's lip.

"So you're pissed," Alec said to Molly as Ellen tended to his wound. He looked at the three new arrivals. "Can we please not air our dirty laundry in public?"

"That would make a change. I wasn't the one who took off when I promised to be here," Molly said to Alec as she handed Dean the icepack. "How's Max?"

"With roller-boy, and I'm back in time aren't I? If it wasn't important I wouldn't have gone," he said, before adding flirtingly, "Molly, sweetheart, you know there is only one girl in the world for me. But Ellen won't leave Pop, and I have accepted that."

Molly bit her tongue, not rising to the bait as Ellen rolled her eyes.

Jo shuddered, not only was her mother with the man she held responsible for her father's death, but someone identical to Dean was flirting with her.

Ellen ripped the old gauze padding from the wound causing Alec to wince.

"I know they gave you a higher pain tolerance than that," Ellen said as she began to prod at his shoulder.

Alec gritted his teeth. "If you weren't the closest thing I had to a mother."

"Alec, what are you doing here?" asked Joshua. "You should be at TC?"

"Got there big fella, saw the lock down. Biggs told me what was going down." He said, more officiously, "Put him on KP, he should have been here."

"This is our business Alec, not yours," John said firmly.

"OK, color me curious," he said. "Three people back from the dead, not aged one day, one with my face. I want to know if I'm going have to start putting people down."

Dean's hand tightened on his blade. "Just try it."

"Dean," John said, before cuffing Alec round the head. "No-one is putting anyone down."

Molly shot Alec a look. "Well, maybe not yet."

"What the hell is going on?" Sam asked. "Who is he?"

"You sure this is Sammy? I mean really Sammy?" Alec asked John, to which he nodded. He studied Sam for a second. "Pops, here, has been telling me stories about you and my original for years."

"Original?" Dean asked, confused.

"Yeah," Alec said. "Saw pictures, but you're good looking enough in the flesh. Not a bad swing either, for an ordinary. Lab boys must have thought they'd won a watch when they picked your DNA up."

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked, not liking the way this sounded. His DNA? Who had been doing things with his DNA?

"Dean, Sam, Jo meet Alec, or 494. He's your transgenic clone, Dean." Molly said.

"My… what?"

Alec glanced over his shoulder as Ellen cleaned the open wound, "I'm you, almost, with bits added – and you know I prefer genetically empowered and it's X5-494 – if you're gonna use my designation, use it properly."

"Yeah, right," Molly said sarcastically.

"You two, watch it," Ellen interrupted.

"Bits added?" Jo asked, wishing that she could wake up from this nightmare.

Alec grinned. "You know, bit of cat, bit of bird, bit of the other."

"How?" Jo asked, stepping closer to Sam. Dean just stood there dumbfounded.

Alec shrugged. John and Ellen didn't say a word; they both looked tired.

The dogman walked over to the table and pulled up a chair to sit by the new arrival. That's why he'd attacked Dean as they had walked through the door earlier, Sam thought, 'cause his brother wasn't the man sitting at his father's kitchen table.

"Don't they know?" Alec asked Ellen.

She shook her head. "No, not all of it, and definitely not about you."

"Story of my life," Alec said. "Not really wanted by anyone."

"Put away the violin, Alec," Molly said. "No-one has asked for you to play your fiddle."

"Some people like it when I play," Alec said, glancing up for a second in the direction of Jo.

Dean stepped in front of Jo, not liking the other man's tone.

"OK, don't feel threatened, man." Alec mumbled something about prior claims.

John sighed. "That better be blood loss short circuiting your brain, boy, 'cause I will not stop her neutering you this time. Hell, I'll even give her a hand."

Ellen hovered for a second, standing over Alec with bandage in hand. Her expression was grim. "Sorry," Alec said, looking upwards. "Blood loss, sure it's blood loss."

Joshua looked up at Ellen. "Mitzy and Grey at command – heat."

Dean noted that Ellen nodded; she'd taken the dogman's cryptic comment as some sort of explanation for the other man's behaviour

"So? How did this happen?" Dean asked, not moving from in front of Jo.

"You tell me, man. How did a secret government project get your DNA? I'd ask them but there ain't a lot of people in the know left. They sure as hell didn't tell me when I was growing up," Alec replied. "Actually, could ask the same from you, how the hell did you get here? Shouldn't you be, what? Almost 50 by now?"

Alec thought of something, before turning to John. "We're gonna have to change our stories aren't we? 'Cause back at the Roadhouse, we told people that he was my father."

Sam thought Dean was going to pass out at that point.

"Alec, you staying here tonight?" Molly asked.

"Yeah, but it looks like it's getting a little crowded out here," he replied. "You offering to share? I'm fine with that but only if you promise to keep your hands to yourself this time."

"You two together?" Sam asked, slightly horrified.

"No," Molly said firmly.

"She loves me really," Alec said in the same slightly cocky way Dean did.

"Is that my tee shirt?" Alec asked, looking at what Dean was sleeping in.

"Might be," Molly said, smiling as she went to get an extra pillow and blanket.

"Come on, Molly, I'm sorry. I really am," Alec protested.

"It isn't just me you have to apologise to," she said, throwing a pillow at him. "Do you know how much chaos you've left in your wake?"

"Yeah, but did you need to give away my clothes?" Alec said before turning to look at John and Joshua for some kind of help.

John stood up and patted Alec on the shoulder. "On your own."


	3. Chapter 3

Diclaimer : Please see other chapters.

Pairings - John/Ellen

Please review! Even if it is just to tell me where I am going wrong.

* * *

Dean was abruptly woken by the camera flash going off in his face.

"Calvin, if you don't put that damn thing away, you are gonna need to visit the doctor to get it removed before you can develop anything," Ellen warned the skinny man in front of Dean.

"Yeah, Mrs W, Sketchy nodded while he just stared at Dean.

Dean, still startled, looked around; he was still in the damn armchair and not a motel bed. Nope, still not a dream then.

He'd spent the past couple of nights sleeping in the chair after talking Sam and Jo into taking the room Molly had vacated. The girl didn't live with her parents - she had a place down town - though she had spent the majority of her time at the house since they'd arrived.

Dean had reasoned there was no point in the three of them being uncomfortable; the room was only big enough for two after the spare cot had been moved in there.

There was a third bedroom but it seemed to be the special reserve of the dogman who spent most of his time there, although Joshua had been sleeping in the basement. However, they all knew the real reason for Dean's refusal to move was Alec.

Alec had been there most of the time. He'd popped back and forth, but each evening he'd be back without fail to continue in the strange nightly standoff; they both just sat across from each other saying very little.

John had thought it was getting serious until the third night. Alec had gotten bored, as well as a little pissed off at Dean for falling asleep first, so he decided to use some of Joshua's paints to give Dean a nice blue moustache. Sam nearly choked on coffee when he came into the living room to see that. Dean had sworn revenge but Sam had pointed out that any prank war should be postponed until they were on a little firmer footing with their surroundings and definitely not while they were under virtual house arrest.

Both the brothers had noticed that Alec's comings and goings seemed to be timed to the arrival of the others. There was always at least two, sometimes human, sometimes not, and they came to help with the painting and decorating although it was pretty obvious that the real purpose of them being there was guard duty, . None of them were part the crowd they had first met when they had arrived at the house.

Jo had joked about their wardens changing shifts when one group had been replaced by another one afternoon, to which a young lizard faced DAC had looked at three of them suspiciously, as he put down his paint tin. Sam had muttered to her to 'shut up', and nodded politely to the thing, while Dean whispered to her 'that was a little too close to the truth for comfort'.

As for John and Ellen, it was amazing to watch them. They were an old married couple, comfortable around each other, not having to say a word to get their message across to one another; anticipating each others needs, even if they grumbled occasionally while doing so. Both were still suspicious, but in awe, of the fact that their missing children had reappeared in their lives.

Ellen just kept stroking Jo's hair every time she passed her. John couldn't help watching his sons doing the most mundane things such as watching TV. This included listening to Dean's frustration at the game (football being one of the few things to change over the intervening twenty years) especially when it was being interrupted by 'Eyes Only' broadcasts, much to Dean's annoyance which for some reason John and Alec found hilarious.

So, on day five of their time at the house, though Dean found his face blissfully free of paint, he did find himself half-blinded by the camera flash, making it hard to see the group of people who seemed to be coming in and out of the room.

"Sktechy, you listening to the woman?"

Sketchy just nodded his response to the black girl sitting at the table across from Ellen, before turning to the older woman.

"You know, Mrs W, this is really out there!"

"Apologies for journo boy, Ellen; turned up at OC's door first thing," the girl said, sorting out the papers on the table.

"It's alright Cindy; word's gonna spread pretty damn quick isn't it?" Ellen said.

OC nodded. "If you keeping, you'd best get rollerboy sort out some papers for them sooner rather than later."

Dean blinked, and as he began to focus, he could see Sam was sitting in a chair across from him, tucking into a breakfast Ellen had obviously cooked, Jo alongside him. Joshua was in the corner of the room watching them eat, while holding Molly in a protective manner. The other two, who had come in with OC and Sketchy, were setting up painting trestles to finish the work that the arrival of Sam, Dean and Jo had disturbed.

"Where's Mr W, Mrs W?" Sketchy asked.

"Leave the man to sleep," OC said. "You gonna make yourself useful?"

Sketchy turned round and went over to where the painting was taking place.

Jo walked over to the kitchen area; she poured herself a cup of coffee before going to the refrigerator.

Ellen looked up from the books that OC had brought her. "Sorry sweetheart, I don't have any milk for you."

Jo looked inside, she could see a full gallon sitting there; confused, she closed the refrigerator door.

OC was going over some figures with Ellen on something. Jo had been surprised when the black girl had turned up; it turned out her Mom still ran a saloon - a well owned one – and it was the girl who ran it: some place called 'Crash'.

The girl had said that takings had been fine until the other night; the sector police were a little jittery due to the lock down at Terminal City. The latest merchandise had arrived, but she hoped it would be the last as they were running out of freezer space at the bar.

Ellen had just shaken her head. "I think that was one of the strangest calls John ever had to make."

Sketchy couldn't help staring at Dean.

"You got a problem?" Dean asked.

"No, it's just you look so much like Alec."

"I don't know, I can tell the difference fine," Alec said as he entered the grabbed a sandwich from the plate on the kitchen counter.

Both Sam and Jo had discussed the differences between the two men. Alec's hair was slightly longer, and he was more clean-shaven. Dean was slightly more muscular and more laid back than Alec, whose style Dean had described as bordering on the hyperactive. Even compared to the motor mouth of Dean Winchester, Alec McDowell was verging on the high verbal.

"Won't stop people mixing you up," Molly said to them.

"You're right." Dean got up and walked over to his double, and after a second, hit him.

Ellen jumped up as did the two boys by the tins.

Dean turned and walked away. "That was from Frank. Remember him? Now works at what use to be the Roadhouse."

Alec smirked as he rubbed his jaw. "Little Geraldine still missing me then?"

Ellen just tutted as she sat back down.

"Hey, pretty boy, come over here and see OC," OC said as she got up from the chair. She walked over to Alec and gave him a chaste kiss then promptly punched him in the arm.

"What's that for?" Alec asked.

"First for saving my Boo the other night from snakes in black, and second for making that damn promise, then skipping town, leaving me, Gem, Moll and the boss lady over there to do the work. "

"Jesus," he said, going for a cup of coffee. "Is there no woman in the world who's not pissed at me?"

"Only the ones that know you!" OC said. "That takes care of half this city, but as for the rest of my sisters, Cindy gives you till lunch."

She punched him in the arm again. "That's for making Molly tell Luke that he couldn't come. Poor thing almost flooded out the whole basement with his wailing "

Alec looked over at Molly. "You told him he couldn't come. He was so looking forward to it."

Molly shook her head. "I told him he could come - but not dressed up."

"But Dix told me he's been practising. He begged me," Alec replied, defending the poor transhuman.

OC hit Alec again. "He begged you! You mean you actually knew? Where you brain go, boy? You talked to Gem?"

"Hey, hey, I'm injured here. No, I haven't, okay? Evie doing the usual?"

"Injured my ass, and OC is the Queen of Sheba!" OC huffed. "You know you got that stem cell thing going on."

"Why the hell did you have to say the words 'we'll see' to the kid before you left? You know what she's like," Molly added.

"She just wanted a normal little birthday party, it's not like she ever gets one. I didn't think it would cause any problems."

"No, you said it to get her to shut up and leave you alone." OC put a hand on her hip. "She's been going on about how 'Uncle Alec said' for the past two weeks. As for your brothers and sisters, they've formed an entertainment committee."

Alec smirked. "Hey, you complaining they got organised?"

She cuffed him round the head. "It's been terrifying. Magic shows should not have people who can actually detach their limbs in 'em."

"You said that you'd organize things, but no, you had to take off didn't you?" Molly complained.

"Someone had to go on the supply run," Alec said in his own defence.

OC cuffed him round the head again.

Sam let out a little laugh; both Cindy and Alec looked at him. "You're all pissed at him 'cause of a kids party? That's priceless."

"Listen, 20th century boy, don't you start with Cindy."

Dean just looked at his brother and then at the girl with the wild hair. "You wouldn't happen to be related to someone named Missouri would you, sweetheart?"

Cindy just looked at him confused. "Don't tell me he's got a smart mouth too?"

"Yep, he has," John said as he entered the room.

"Thank God he's already got a name. God knows what she'd come up with," Ellen said, picking up the black coffee that Alec had put down for a second and handing it to Dean.

She continued, "I'm not complaining about the kids having the party here. Especially if it means that this place finally gets freshened up." Ellen glanced over at her husband, causing John to let out a little grumble as he headed toward the coffee pot.

"Hey, I just poured that. You know how hard it is to come by that stuff?" Alec protested when he noticed the theft of his beverage. "That's real Columbian."

"Alec, drink your milk!" John said, and Alec looked dejectedly into the white liquid he had been handed.

Ellen picked up two more glasses and handed them to the two boys who were helping Sketchy with the painting.

One of the boys looked confused. "Sorry, but I don't…"

"Don't argue, Dalton," Alec said, taking a drink.

"But I'm not an X-5, I'm X-6, we don't have to worry about… you know…," Dalton said to Ellen, who was standing in front of him holding out the glass.

"X-5?" Sam asked his father.

"It's a series number, like a model number," John said.

"Model number?" Dean asked.

"You know, like the latest Ford. Before Ford went bust back in '15," Sketchy said.

"Dalton, drink your damn milk," Ellen said.

"Better do it, kid, you don't want to piss her off," Alec joked.

The boy looked into the glass before mumbling, "Not a kid."

"All those years weapons training and discipline and you sound like a 4th grader." John picked up a sandwich, before putting it down again. "Alec, is Max going to come in here or just going sit outside my living room window like some goddamn peeping tom?"

"Was it because he was such a morning person that you married him, Ellen?" Alec said before whistling out the living room window. "Maxie! Get your ass in here!"

"Max?" asked Dean, he'd heard the name mentioned other night. Joshua had asked about 'little fella', Alec had said Max was fine. Little, Medium and Big sounded like they were the three bears or something.

"His partner in crime," Molly whispered to Jo. "The reason he tends to come home with holes in him."

"This is too weird," Dean said, putting the coffee cup in the sink just as the window opened and she climbed in.

"Hello," Max said before turning her attention to John.

"If you were built for stealth, girl, you better get a refund," John said gruffly.

Max smiled. "Most people wouldn't notice me."

Dean looked at the girl; he couldn't believe that anyone could fail to notice her. If this was a twisted hallucination he was having, the one thing he couldn't complain about was his 'evil twin's' taste.

"Must be those years of 'hunting'," Max said.

Sam noticed that Alec, who was standing behind John's back, had started to wave his arms at Max in a 'don't start that' manner.

John glowered for a second. "Also, next time you want to come in here, use the front door."

Max nodded. "So I'm allowed to use it again?"

Sam noticed Alec had relaxed.

"Here you go," Ellen said, handing her a turkey sandwich.

"Thanks, Ellen," Max said respectfully.

"You know I don't like people spying on my house," John said.

"I didn't think you'd be in the mood to let me if I asked," Max replied. "Logan said you still weren't happy about last time."

She turned walked into the living room where Sam was sitting; she walked round his chair looking at him before doing the same to Jo. She then turned her attention to Dean. He felt the full glare of her inspection. Both Alec and OC stood there, watching, as she circled him twice and then pulled his head down to feel the nape of his neck.

"You find what you were expecting?" John asked, more than slightly ticked off at her.

Max stood her ground. "You know I had to check."

John nodded, before turning to the various transgenics in the room. "They're my boys and that's Ellen's girl. If you have any questions about that, talk to Carr, you all seem to trust him. That puts how they got here on my turf not yours. All I know right now is, they're home - I'm not sure how - but they'll stay here as long as they want. If any of you got a problem with that you take it up with me, you hear?"

The boys by the paint tins and Joshua waited for both Alec and Max to respond.

"I'll give you that," Max said nodding. "For now."

Sam just looked at his father. He'd guessed that they were already on house arrest, but to be out and out threatened like that… The world had gone to hell.

John looked over at Dean for a second before turning back to Max. "You could do it again, Max?"

She straightened up not liking the sentiment John had just expressed, but she was now the leader of a nation; she didn't have the luxury of thinking about Ben. Why the hell did Alec make her tell John the truth about what happened to the other version of his eldest son?

"And I thought I was the one who had the stupid mouth," Alec said lightly as he handed Max a glass, interrupting her reply. "You two got the macho posturing out of the way?"

Dean was confused; this girl was standing up to his father, and Alec was playing peacemaker. It was like him and Sam had been replaced in his father's eyes by these two, and to top things off, his replacement had his face.

* * *

"You okay, man?" Sam asked as Dean sat alone in the backyard.

Dean nodded, hoping that Sam would take the hint that he needed some time alone.

"Dean?" Jo stuck her head round the door.

Dean sighed. If he was home, well, back where he was suppose to be, he could at least take off for a drive. As it was a) he had no clue where to go to clear his head in a zoned off town and b) he had no car – his car? Where the hell was his car?

He snapped, "Will you two stop it with the 'let's share' moments! I'm fine, I'm okay, and I don't want to talk. At the end of the day, what the hell is there to talk about?"

Jo started to list things off on her fingers. "We're stuck twenty years in the future, no idea how to get home, or if we can even get home. My mother is playing house with a dead man, who you two cremated. The kid, who hid when it came to bath time, is now old enough to vote. We have things that aren't 100 human running around, but that's okay 'cause they have 'Made in the USA' stamped on their asses, and to top it all off…"

"I know, it's all my fault." Dean pushed away from the wall he had been sitting on. "Unless you have got some idea how to get Molly's mom's research, I don't know what to tell you."

"I wasn't going to say that. But you never know, they still might have that laptop." Jo put a comforting hand on Dean's shoulder. "What I was going to say was that you must be really weirded out with the whole Alec thing."

Sam nodded. "We're just saying that you can talk to us. Hell, we're weirded out about it. First morning I got up I didn't know if I was talking to him or you," Sam said, causing Dean's face to fall even further.

"Thanks, Sam." Dean took a few steps into the yard. "What do you two want me to say? That I don't like the guy? Well, actually, when he shuts up, he's okay. Do I like the fact that he can swan in and out of this place like he owns it? That I like that Dad or what could be our Dad looks to him for answers before us? No, I don't like that. Happy now, Sam?"

"Dean, we've been gone for almost twenty years, and from what I could get out of Joshua they've known Alec for almost five. They're suspicious, Dean; it's not just the Demon they've got to worry about. Everyone who has a beef against Alec and his kind is a potential threat," Sam explained.

"Yeah, but that means you two at least get to go the fucking market to get some new clothes! Me, I'm stuck here; being babysat 'cause me and him can't be seen out at the same time." Dean was getting more and more agitated.

Sam nodded, he could understand his brother's attitude. "Okay, you're getting really bad cabin fever and I'm guessing your feeling kind of 'violated'."

"I wasn't raped, Sam. No-one held me down and 'took samples from me'."

"Manitcore was never exactly subtle about how they went about things, so how do you know?" Alec said, appearing at the backdoor. "They were capable of almost anything, trust me on that. Or, don't trust me, it's entirely up to you."

Dean knotted his brow, not wanting to talk to the guy. "What do you want?"

"To talk, I think. Well, Maxie is doing her nut, actually. She sent me out here, not that I don't usually appreciate an ass chewing from someone as fine as her, but not today." Alec turned to Jo. "Sorry about the other night when we first met. I wasn't thinking straight 'cause – well, you'll find out."

He turned his attention back to his double. "As I said, they weren't exactly subtle about getting what they wanted. I may have been born in '99, but I always guessed I was sitting on a shelf in a jar somewhere for years before that, so they could have got their hands on you when you couldn't defend yourself."

"What do you mean?" asked Sam.

"We never found anyone like you, Sam, not in the X series, though that doesn't mean that there isn't a couple of transhumans or 'nomlies running around with your brand of Winchester DNA in them. But if there isn't, then that could mean that Dean was alone when they got there hands on him."

Dean looked his double in the eye. "You mean when I was kid."

Sam shuddered at the thought that his brother a victim of some sort of abuse.

Alec nodded. "When John first turned up, yelling how I looked too much like you for coincidence, we worked out a few theories. Best we could come up with was that you spent some time in hospital as a kid, right?"

Dean nodded. "Just the usual: a couple of broken bones."

Alec's lip curled into a wry knowing smile. "I know your family did for a living; normal broken bones weren't just it."

"So?" Dean asked.

"If you got singled out in the kids ward, they just would have taken what they wanted and left you," Alec explained. "Half-decent looking kid, in good physical shape; no genetic abnormalities, and from what John said a high pain threshold; who only paid attention to certain authority figures, gave lip to all others. Good place to start off from, and who's going to believe you if you tell someone that the doctors and nurses have been running a few more tests than they should have, especially seeing how you're probably spinning stories to stop them calling social workers."

"So, you're saying that there were doctors wandering round kids' wards just picking what they wanted?" asked Jo.

"Could have been; this was the government. They wanted a piece of you, they would have found a way. As I was saying, we don't really know how they selected all our originals. Max's is the dead wife of our former base commander; which to be honest is more than a little freaky seeing how he was her CO." Alec sniffed. "Anyway, guessing you want out? Personally, I hate being cooped up. OC and Sketchy are heading out, so is Max. They're headed to Crash; it doesn't open till later but if you guys want a change of scene, see some other faces, you know."

"Have an armed guard?" Dean added sarcastically.

Alec shook his head. "Max hates guns, more my deal. Though knowing Krit he's probably down there snagging some freebies for him and Syl."

"So I get a free pass?" Dean asked.

"Kind of." Alec tossed him his sector pass; it was old but the dates were still valid. It had Alec's picture on it and read 'Jam Pony messenger'. "I gotta be somewhere but I want that back!"

Dean was confused. "What the hell am I suppose to do with this?"

"Sketchy will tell you. By the way, you damage her, and you'll find out how pissed off I can get." Alec threw him a set of keys.

Dean looked down at the keys in hand, slightly stunned.

"Oh yeah, Sam," Alec added. "You're the research one aren't you?"

Sam scratched his head and nodded.

"Moll's got a present for you. Said to be real careful with it, she's got a copy of everything on the drive, but it's got real sentimental value. It's one of the only two things she's got from before the fire."

Jo's face lit up. "She still has her mom's laptop?"

"Ellen wasn't going to let her get rid of it, was she?" Alec replied. "They've been scrounging old batteries for it for days. But just in case, the power's more reliable down at the bar."

* * *

Dean walked outside to find Max and Sketchy waiting for him by their bikes.

He walked up to the spare motorcycle and looked it over.

"You gonna look, or you going to get on?" Max asked as she got on her Ninja. "You can ride one, can't you?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, been a while, but sure."

"Good! Follow Sketchy, and at the gates wave the pass and you should be okay. If not, pull to the side and I'll find you," Max added.

Sketchy smirked as he pulled on his helmet. "And in the highly unlikely situation you find the fur flying, just keep going and don't look back."

Max just looked down her nose at him. "Sketchy, just ride, will you?"

* * *

Sam and Jo trundled into the alleyway in OC's little car. The three bikes were sitting by the back door of the club.

They found Dean sitting at the bar beside Max and another guy called Krit, who had been unloading the freezers.

Dean slugged down a mouthful of beer. "Nice of you to finally join us."

"That old wreck of yours could do with a tune up," Max said to her friend.

"My transport is doing fine. I don't need to tear it up like some," OC said, putting down her things.

"Been telling you that you should get a new one; it's not like you don't earn enough," Max told her.

"Leave my old jalopy alone, beats the old days on that damn pushbike." OC pointed toward to a stairway at the side of the bar. "Office is up there, Sammy."

"My name's Sam," he said lightly.

"Really? You look like a Sammy to me," OC said, walking off before he could say anything else.

"Sammy it is then," Krit said, chuckling. "Original Cindy has spoken."

Sam just looked at his brother, who shrugged, though was obviously amused.

"That a pool table over there?" Dean asked, moving over to the table in question.

"You play?" Sketchy asked, thinking of all the times Alec had kicked his ass.

"A bit, not in a while though." Dean grinned at the man's response. "Fancy a game?"

Jo smiled, glad that Dean had lightened up a bit. "Play nice," she whispered to him as Sketchy racked up.

Dean grinned. "I haven't done anything. Friendly couple of games; he might be good. If he's not, just a couple of bucks, Okay? Nothing too heavy. It's not like we couldn't do with the cash."

"At least leave him his shirt," Max said as she jumped up to sit on one of the ledges beside the table.

When Logan came into the bar, he found the small group crowded round the pool table, watching as Dean proceeded to hand Sketchy his pride.

Logan smiled when he saw Max. "Hey there."

"Logan." Max smiled back, adjusting her gloves. Five years of frustration and the virus between them. Though, they both knew it was over, they could never fully walk away; he was too useful to Terminal city, and she continued to help him out on 'Eyes Only' missions. They had both settled for being each other's closest advisor, who dated other people; trying to be friends, but not ready to fully move on with their lives. That tiny piece of hope still lingered about a possible tomorrow though they had long stopped talking about it.

"Hey, guys." Logan walked over the table. Logan stopped for a second and looked at Dean, "Hello, not Alec."

Dean continued to concentrate on his shot, he sank the eight. "It's Dean."

"Right. Oh, you play pool too," Logan added, gesturing to Max to come over.

Jo could see Dean clench his jaw. "You're going to have to get used to being compared to him for a while," she said softly.

"Don't mean I have to like it," Dean muttered bitterly.

* * *

"What's up?" Max asked Logan, once they'd moved over to the bar for some privacy, "You got into the database we brought back?"

Logan nodded. "Yeah, you were right. It was White who tainted the last two shipments."

"And the load we brought back?" she asked.

"Clean. But I never thought I'd be doing deals with the Russian Mafia."

"I don't like it either, and you know that we don't really need Tryptophan pills from them. But if we don't look like we stockpiling, then White is going to know we've got other connections."

"I just don't like the idea of you putting yourself on the line just for a smoke screen, and John's buddies can't keep smuggling in pills for you."

"Hey, we came back, didn't we? And have you seen how many wild turkeys they brought us? White is just going to think that those hunting nuts are paying us in birds that he can't actually force the price up on. You know that no national guardsman is going to stick their hands up any dead fowl."

"I know, but Alec had a bullet in him," replied Logan. She just stared at him. "Which was my point. You have an SIC to do these jobs for you, not to act as your human shield."

Max was curious. "When did you get all protective of Alec?"

"I just don't want to see the guy dead at the moment. He has a family, Max, a weird little broken one with hell of a load of crazy, but he has one, and right now they need him. His job should be the mission, not protecting his CO. His mind is going to get split too many ways and it will get him, and more worryingly, you, killed."

She nodded, half agreeing with him. "It was only that his plan to distract the guard wouldn't have worked."

"Was it the usual?"

"Yeah, the 'Max get naked' one."

"He has little imagination. Strike that, he has a hell of an imagination, just all seems to directed in one way." Logan glanced over at the table. "How are they doing?"

"All right, considering. I'm still not buying the whole fell through time thing." Max crossed her arms.

Logan shook his head. "How many people have you sent out with John's friends and you still don't believe him, them, or Alec, on the possibility that things like that are real?"

"Yellowed-eyed Demon, my ass; White and his buddies are just plan nuts from too much inbreeding. As for the others, I accept that there are things out are out there that have to be taken out, but I'm still not convinced that they are all from beyond the grave."

Logan couldn't believe what he was hearing. "This from Sandeman's special child?"

"Didn't ask to be a science project, did I?" Max glanced over to Dean and Jo. Jo was looking back at them, while Dean set up the pool table, this time to take on Krit.

Max turned back to Logan. "Sam seems all right, just seems shaken from being here. Jo, there, lot of issues, but they all seem to be directed at John, and as for Dean… well, he's hard to read. Don't know if he's more pissed about being here, cooped up, or the fact that someone supposedly took a piece of him and made something else."

"I'm guessing probably all three are close to number one right now." Logan politely acknowledged Jo with a polite nod "They'll just have to work out whatever problems they've got if they're staying."

"Don't know if they are. Sam's upstairs trying to work out a way for them to get back home."

Logan was confused. "How? Has he got the blueprints to a time machine?"

"Nope – Molly's real mom's old computer."

"The one with all the religious information on it?"

"Yep. Supposedly this all started cause of a 'ritual' that went wrong."

* * *

Sam came running down the stairs, almost tripping up at the bottom in his haste. "I got it, I got it. I think I know what went wrong! Or right, or whatever."

Dean put down his cue as his over excited younger brother came bounding into the room.

"Easy boy," OC said, following him down the stairs at a gentler pace, "He's worse than Joshua with a new set of oil paints."

"So, we get two gigantic puppies instead of one?" Krit asked. "You know what they say about dogs, they're not just for Christmas."

"In a Korean town they can last you all the way to New Year," Sketchy and Krit said in unison.

Max just looked over at her brother as she and Logan moved back to the others. "This from a man who is part cat."

"Right, what you got?" Dean asked, Sam ignoring the Transgenic banter.

"Do you guys mind?" Dean asked the rest of them in an attempt to let him, Sam and Jo discuss Sam's findings in private.

All bar Max and Logan seemed take the hint.

Sam put down a couple of printouts as Dean and Jo crowded round. "This is the ritual you were using, right?"

Dean looked down, reading the instructions, before pointing to a passage more that half way down. "Yeah, and you two came in about here."

"Right, well, look at this one." Sam handed them a printout describing another ritual; it was completely different, requiring a large blood sacrifice.

"Sam, this is totally different.," Jo said

Max looked over Jo's shoulder. "Okay, more occult stuff. Great."

"No, look, this one you started was a summoning rite; grab the soul you want and let it pass it over, nothing more. If it doesn't work, it at least helps the relatives of the dead get closure," Sam said.

"Right." Dean nodded. "But he's walking around, so it did a bit more than that."

"You were almost finished. Then we bust in," Sam said, before turning his attention to the second ritual. "This one is to do with unresolved issues, broken promises, punish those who have wronged us."

Jo was confused. "Sam, I don't know where you're going with this."

Sam looked at her. "When Molly came in, she pushed you into the circle, knocking over the summoning bowls."

"Still can't believe the two of you brought her. She was a baby, and don't say you left her in the car, Sam," Dean said accusingly.

Sam didn't look at his brother, turning instead to Jo. "Jo, you got to admit that the one person in the world you have some issues with is our Dad."

"Well, if it wasn't for him…" Jo spat out angrily

"I'm sorry, Jo, but your Dad knew the job. He knew the risk when they came up with the plan. It's a dangerous gig; you know that," Dean said. "Anyway, you only got what that demon told you. She could have been screwing with you."

"She?" Jo asked.

Dean grinned. "Oh yeah, didn't I tell you? My pansy-assed brother got possessed by a girl demon."

Everyone in the room looked at Sam. "Shut up, Dean. Can we get back to this?"

"This is the part he started going whoop-de-do," OC said, putting her hand on her hip as she stood by the bar listening in.

"Right, see, in the original Dean had identified the soul he wanted, where it was, and that he want to see it. Here is where we came in; Jo, you changed the why. Us knocking over those bowls changed it from a relatively, and I can't believe I'm saying this, 'safe' ritual to an all out different, more dangerous one."

Jo shook her head. "Okay, I'm lost."

"Jo, be honest, if you saw our Dad what is the first thing you want to do to him?" Sam asked.

Jo looked uncomfortable.

"She'd want to kill him," Dean said, focused on the pages.

Sam raised an eyebrow at her. "Pretty hard to do to a dead man, don't you think?"

"But John's walking and breathing?" Logan was confused.

"He wasn't when we left," Dean said, scanning Sam's work. "He was more 'dust on the wind' if you get my meaning."

"Okay, we're getting a psyche evaluation," Max said quietly. Logan just hushed her.

"Right, so you're saying you were summoning your father's soul, and because they disturbed you, and she wants to kill him herself, he came back from the dead?" Logan asked. "Am I getting you?"

"Loopy Land, here we come," Max added.

Sam nodded. "Long and short of it. Then you have to mix in Molly."

"What's she got to do with it?" Max frowned.

"This requires a blood sacrifice. The original one did as well but I'm guessing Dean gave his own blood for it. This one requires some blood as well."

"So?" Dean asked.

"Ellen said that when she got to the cabin we were gone, Dad was in the circle, and Molly…" Sam hoped they could connect the dots.

"Was suffering from acute blood loss." Dean ran his palm over his face before driving his fist into the table. "The kid got hurt."

"You could say that. She's still got scars from it," Max said angrily; she knew part of the story, didn't believe it, but she had seen the permanent reminder that Molly carried from that night.

Sam looked sheepishly at Jo. "We should have never have taken her with us."

"Damn straight you shouldn't have. But we'll have to get into that later," Dean said, focusing on the problem at hand. He glanced from Jo to Sam. "Right?"

"Yeah," Sam answered. "So the way I figure, the mixing of the two rituals combined with both yours and Molly's blood brought him all the way back. Molly just wanted a parent back, her mom. You want to your parent back too Dean, Dad. Jo wanted some closure about her dad. All of that, combined with the blood of a pure innocent and the fact that you'd identified our Dad first, meant that he got his ticket out of Hell. I'm guessing it confused the hell out of the Demon so much, it sent it underground again."

"You're forgetting the presence of a psychic," Dean added, and Sam just scowled at his brother.

"Right, so, say I'm buying all of that, what about the time thing?" Jo asked.

"That, I'm guessing, is to do with the fact we didn't perform the steps in the correct order. We got hit with the punishment part, that and the visions."

"So, because you can see into the future, we got flung into the future?" Jo considered this.

"He gets visions?" Max asked.

Sam nodded, not liking the fact that he was revealing this in a roomful of strangers.

Dean scratched his head. "Why here then? 'Cause you only see a few days into the future if you're lucky, Sam, and they've always been to do with the demon."

"I don't know." Sam shook his head.

They sat around the table for what seemed like an age, trying to figure out how the three of them had gotten stuck out of their time.

Finally, Dean spoke up. "The nightmares?"

"What nightmares?" Jo asked.

"Nothing," Sam stated.

"He won't tell me about them; started about three months before we met Amelia, Molly's mom." Dean looked at Jo. "Just wakes up screaming about a blue lady."

"It's nothing," Sam said, pushing his chair away from the table.

Max swallowed. "Blue lady? You get dreams about the blue lady?"

"No, he says he's doing it for her… and it's nothing, just dreams. And they've stopped, okay?" Sam didn't want to talk about it.

"Since you got here, right?" Max's tough façade looked as it was about to slip.

He looked at the girl. "Yeah."

"I'm guessing they're about him?" She nodded in the direction of his brother. "Woods, right?"

Sam didn't answer. Max bent over and in a hushed tone she whispered in Sam's ear. He pulled back shocked and confused, but after a few seconds, relieved. "You sure?"

She nodded. "It's over."

"Thanks," Sam said, tears welling in his eyes. Max left the table, closely followed by Logan.

"He's dreaming of Ben, right?" Logan asked Max when he caught up her.

Max shook her head in disbelief. "Can't believe that they'd tell them about him."

"Alec wouldn't, neither would John or Ellen. Christ, Max, you won't even tell me what happened," Logan muttered.

"It's over, that's all you need to know," she said as she walked away.

Back at the table, the discussion continued.

"Right, so we're here cause of some freaky ass nightmare you have, a little kid's blood, and the fact that Jo wants to kill our Dad? Am I getting this straight?" Dean asked his companions.

Sam regained his composure as he watched the girl walk away. If what she said was true, Dean wasn't going to go nuts, and neither was Alec; it was someone else and he was gone. "Yeah, think so."

"So, how do we get back?" Jo asked. "I would like to get back."

"I don't know," Sam answered.

"What?" Dean looked at his brother.

"I don't know! I don't know if we can go back, and to be honest, do we want to?" Sam asked.

"Hell yes, I want to," Jo replied. "I want to go home, Sam. This isn't where we belong."

Sam turned to his brother. "Dean, think about it. Dad's here, alive. The Demon's dormant, that gives us time to find out it wants, and here the Feds aren't looking for us."

Dean sighed; last time Sam had pleaded with him he ended up technically committing felony kidnapping. "Sam, I know that, but this place ain't safe. We don't know the rules and then there's them."

Sam looked over at Krit, who was pretending not to listen, "That's another thing I've been thinking – other hunters were after me, right? They're not here."

"We say 'Hi, haven't seen you in almost twenty years' they're gonna be," Jo said, hoping to hit him with some cold reality.

"Who says they have to know?" Sam voiced the idea he had gotten into his head a few days ago.

"What?" Both Dean and Jo were confused.

"Think about it. Alec is the clone of Dean Winchester, who says there weren't more; or of Sam Winchester, or come to think about it, Jo Harvelle? We disappeared. No sight was ever seen of us again. Who's to say that we didn't end up in jars somewhere getting cut up for experiments?"

Jo looked at him in disbelief. "You're sick, Sam. That didn't happen."

"Yeah, but who's to say it didn't? To anyone who asks, it could have. Alec said that him and Dad had spun a tale at the Roadhouse, that he was Dean's kid, till the other hunters accepted that he was actually a transgenic. Why can't we do something similar?"

"So, you're saying we could stay here, pretend to be transgenics, until we figure out what's going on?" Dean summarised, getting what his brother was suggesting.

Sam shrugged hopefully. "Why not?"

Jo shook her head. "Because we're not, Sam. We're human and they are going to notice that."

Sam turned to his brother. "Dean, look at Max and Cindy."

Dean took a long look at the olive-skinned girl; she was athletic, feisty and had a tongue that could cut steel. If she was half as good at using it in other ways then he would love to get acquainted with it… yeah, she was damn hot. The black girl was all attitude, and he bet she could move when she wanted to. He had to admit he'd really enjoy trying to lose himself in that wild mane of hair. Oh, the two of them together, that he could really get into. If only Sam asked him to do more things like this, he grinned a little. "Yeah?"

"Do they look like they're two different species to you?" asked Sam.

Dean wasn't paying attention to Sam's words as he watched the two women across the room.

"Dean!" Jo leaned across the table and punched him in the arm.

"Hey," Dean said, startled.

Sam shook his head. "And you were complaining about Alec's libido. Poor guy probably didn't know what hit him when your genes kicked in."

Sam continued, "I'm just putting it out there. We could spend years trying to find a way back to a past that, to be honest, had very little future for all three of us. Or we could take a chance, try and face this one. Our parents are here. We could still hunt but this time have a base, here; where we don't have to worry about the Feds breathing down our necks or if my next visit to the Roadhouse will be my last."

"The Roadhouse is gone, Sam, it belonged to my father and it's gone. They packed up and moved here looking for a version of him." Jo pointed accusingly at Dean. "I had a life, Sam. I want to go home."

"Jo, you were drifting," Dean said, though he could understand where she was coming from.

"Don't expect me to sit there and play happy families just because you two have got it into your heads that we can. If you're not willing to find me a way home, Sam, then I'll find Ash. I'll take my mom and go to Denver."

Dean straightened up. "Whoa there, girly. You'd really give Ellen an ultimatum?"

"Admit it, Dean, you want to go back too. Even though your Dad's here, you want to go back."

"I don't know, Jo, what Sam's saying might make sense," Dean said, thinking. Sure, he wanted to go back to the life he knew, but not having anyone specifically on his tail for a while could be good. "We don't know if we can get back. Might be a better idea to stay; make a difference here instead of wasting our time trying to go back to a world which is going to go to hell two years after we get back."

Jo leaned forward. "Whatever way you cut this, John Winchester is responsible for my dad's death."

"I'm sorry, Jo, but as Dean said, he knew the job, Bill took the risk," Sam said through gritted teeth. "You can't turn around to your mother and say it is either the life she's built here, or you."

"If it gets her away from this madness, then damn straight I can."

Sketchy stopped for a second as he passed the table. "Hey, you aren't holding Papa Winchester to blame for Billy are you?"

"What?" asked Jo.

"Couldn't help overhearing, man, I can hear you and I don't even have the amped up ears. He wasn't responsible for it."

"Sorry?" Dean said. "They told you what happened?"

"Told me? Why? We were here, we all were," Sketchy answered, not realising that he was feeding them new information. "Kid's heart just gave out, that's all. It's not like they didn't try everything. Even put out feelers to see if they could get a transplant on the black market."

Dean was confused. "Right, I think I've missed a page."

"Shit, you guys don't know." Sketchy turned round. "Max!"

"What?" she asked, joining Sketchy.

"Who is Billy?" Dean demanded.

Max cuffed Sketchy around the head. "You and your big mouth."

"I didn't know they hadn't been told. Anyway, she's was talking about taking Ellen away."

"What?" Max turned to the three of them. "If you try and split them up then you'll have nowhere safe to hide in this city! You hear me?"

"Who is Billy?" Dean said, standing up.

"Are you hearing me? Even if you could convince John to go, even now, he won't leave Ellen, and there is no way in hell she'll move without Molly. That means you'd then have Alec on your tail. And a pissed off X5 alpha male is not a pretty sight," Max said, refusing to answer Dean's question.

"Who is Billy?"

Logan nodded to Cindy, who disappeared into the back, before he walked over to try and calm the situation. "He was your brother."

"What?" Sam asked.

Logan's voice was tinged with sadness. "He died just over two years ago, not too long after they moved here. He had a bad heart."

Cindy reappeared and handed Sam a picture. "Little cutie pie, had the same eyes as you, Sammy."

Sam looked down. It was a group picture: Joshua, Alec, Max, Logan, Ellen and John surrounding a young boy with a wide grin on his face, sitting with a birthday cake in front of him. Sam handed the picture to Jo.

Jo just looked dumbfounded at the picture as Logan explained, "Kids with Down Syndrome tend to have heart problems. Before the pulse, it probably would have been easier to fix. When John and Ellen settled here they hoped that they'd have better luck finding a doctor to help. Didn't work, I'm afraid, he died a couple of months after that was taken."

Dean slumped in his chair. "They had a kid of their own?"

Max nodded. "He was a great kid. Pulse hit before Ellen could get the results from the amnio, so they didn't know. Not that I'm thinking that would ever have stopped them having him. She had to give birth in the back of that bar that you called home."

"No." Jo shook her head, not wanting to picture her mother giving birth in one of the back rooms of the Roadhouse, with only John and Ash to help her.

"You guys were gone for a long time, you think they sat on their keysters and did nothing?" Cindy asked. "They put all the hurt they had in losing you three into something – they got together, got busy, had a little one of their own."

"Yeah, as I said, Bill was the real deal," Max said. "We had to clean up what happened after. John was a mess; shut everyone out. Ellen just focused on Molly, and for a while we thought that they weren't going to pull through. But they did. So, if you think I'm gonna let some blonde haired little girl, who thinks that she's had it tough, walk in here and tear apart my best friend's family just cause she feels like it, then think again! You try and I'll go to town on the three of you; as will Alec, 'cause there is no way he'll let that happen without a fight."

"Leave Jo alone," Dean said, defending the girl. "What Alec does is his business anyway."

Logan threw Sam his coat. "Max, we'd better show them."


	4. Chapter 4

Diclaimer : Please see other chapters.

Pairings - John/Ellen and Max/Alec eventually, (just taking my time in getting there.)

Please review! Even if it is just to tell me where I am going wrong.

* * *

Logan's van pulled into the clinic parking lot.

Sam sat quietly whilst the others exited the car, thinking how he had gained and lost two brothers in the course of one afternoon. He looked over at Dean, feeling a sense of overwhelming relief; the message Max had whispered was that his dreams were of Ben, Alec's twin, and not Dean. Ben apparently couldn't cope on the outside, asked too many questions, questions that he couldn't find answers for causing him to break, but it was now over. And now there was Billy Winchester, looked like they named him after Jo's father, and he was gone too.

Climbing out of the van, Jo faced Max, both women sizing each other up; though there was little doubt in anyone's else's mind that the genetically enhanced soldier wouldn't do anything but wipe the floor with the hunter-in-training.

Dean didn't seem to pay any attention to the other two at that point, savouring being out in the fresh air as he waited with Logan near the front of the van.

Logan guided the three of them inside; they barely said a word as they walked to a part of the building that they hadn't seen in their previous visit. Max and Logan stopped at the bottom of a corridor, waiting for Sam, Dean and Jo to catch up. When the three of them did, they stared at the waiting area in open-mouthed surprise.

Molly was sitting on the floor, with Alec gently resting his chin on her head; he had a goofy little grin on his face. Sam took a step forward only to be held back by Max. A ball rolled across the floor toward Molly and she picked it up, smiling. A little squeak came from around the corner as a toddler ran toward Molly, wanting her ball back.

"Mommy!" the little girl said as Molly held onto the ball. The girl looked up at Alec for help, "Ball Daddy, ball!"

Dean couldn't believe it. "What? They have a kid? She said that they weren't together."

Max shook her head. "They're not, but you don't have to be together to raise a kid. That's Aimee - but we call her Little Mole. She was in one of the bedrooms at the house when you three first arrived. She's a G2 – one of our second generation to be free, first generation to be born that way. Because of you three we've had all our children stuck in the hall; we got to remember those that didn't make it 'cause we didn't know what you were."

"Molly told that Mole guy to get all the G2 to the veterans," Sam said, realising that Molly had been telling the mutant soldier to get all the kids inside of what was the closest thing the transgenics had to hallowed ground.

Max was watching Alec's face as the little girl tried to pull the ball out of her mother's hand. "John came here five years ago, just after the Jam Pony thing blew everything into the open. Billy had seen Alec's face on the news, told his dad that there was someone who looked like his long lost son on TV. John came here to check it out. Alec woke up one day during the siege inside Terminal City to find a gun in his face and an old guy demanding to know who and what he was."

"How he got in, when the army, White's people, as well as everyone else who were trying to kill us couldn't, I still don't know." Her voice was edged with a little awe.

"Doctors confirmed that John Winchester wasn't the source of Alec's human DNA, but he shared enough of it for it not to be a coincidence," Logan continued Max's story. "So, Alec got a father who was actually related to him. He's the only one who actually found his human family and that was because they came looking for him. He went to stay with them for a while when things quietened down here. He had to pretend that he was John's grandson though, hence why 'Pops'."

Max watched as Molly rolled the ball and the little girl went waddling after it. "I got hurt in an ambush so he came back; Molly followed a couple of months later. She was pregnant. She told him that he could be as involved as much as he wanted with the baby as long as he stuck to it, but she said she wouldn't blame him if he wanted nothing to do with her. What she did need was the name of a good doctor: mixing of ordinary and transgenic doesn't always take."

"John came after her, tried to make her go home. But when the doctor told him that he knew someone who might be able to help Billy, he called Ellen. She sold everything so they'd have enough money for any treatments, and the rest is kind of history," Logan said.

"So did Molly come looking for Alec?" Sam asked.

Logan nodded. "Yes. But they don't talk about what happened between them."

Alec's head popped up as he spied the small group watching them. He tapped Molly on the shoulder, and she scooped her daughter into her arms as she stood up. Alec stood there, resting his hands on the mother of his child's shoulders, and glowered at Max. "What are they doing here?"

"They know about Bill, thought it best to get the rest out in the open," Max said, stroking the excitable toddler's cheek.

"Who told them?" Molly asked.

"Your friend Sketchy," Dean said, causing the little girl to stare at him and then squeal in delight as she started clapping her hands.

"It was going to come out eventually," Logan said. "It's just sooner rather than later."

"Yeah, right," Alec said, in a tone that suggested to Logan that this discussion was far from over.

"So, you're a mom," Sam said to Molly as he leant over to the little girl. Aimee made a grab for Sam hair, and he quickly ducked back. "Yes, I am."

She turned her attention to the little girl in her arms. "Aimee, this is Auntie Jo, Uncle Sam, and Uncle Dean."

The child looked over at the three of them, focusing on Sam; she shook her head. "NO!"

Alec smiled. "Sorry, what's that, Little Mole?"

The little girl just continued to shake her head. "No. Auntie Sam!"

Dean snorted at the response; Sam looked confused.

"Okay, what about Uncle Sammy?" Alec asked his little girl.

The toddler concentrated and then nodded. "Uncle Sammy."

"She already has an Aunt called Sam," Max explained. "Anyway, Uncle Sam isn't really a term used too fondly around here."

Dr Carr came out of one the side rooms and nodded toward the group. Molly took a sharp intake of breath, before handing Aimee over to Alec, and headed toward the waiting Doctor.

Alec bounced the little girl. "Mommy will be back in a minute."

Amiee watched as her mother disappeared inside the room; she looked up at her father - he didn't seem worried, so it was okay. She focused on the man who was Uncle Dean, looking between him and her Daddy. She tried to pull away from Alec, wanting to be put down, as he did so Dean politely squatted to let the toddler get a better look at him. The little girl was confused but began to clamber onto Dean, pushing her little chubby hands into his face.

"It's just like Aunt Max and Aunt Sam," Logan said to the little girl, who nodded.

The toddler began to chew on one of her fingers. "Samie by diffy?"

"Yeah, that's right, kiddo." Alec smiled proudly.

Aimee scrambled over Dean's shoulder prodding at the back of his neck; suddenly she flew back to her father, clinging to him for protection. "Ordie, Ordie!"

"Hey, hey, we talked about this, remember?" Alec said soothingly. "Mommy's an ordinary, so is Uncle Logan, Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Normal."

The scared girl looked over at Dean, cowering into her father as he continued, "Your cousins don't have codes, neither does Joshua, neither do you."

The little girl looked up at her Daddy, then over to her Auntie Max, who nodded reassuringly. Aimee bit her bottom lip, climbing down again and toddling over to Dean bent his head down, though he was still unsure why the back of his head was of such interest to these people.

She ran her hand over his neck before running over to Alec to do the same thing to him. Alec bent down and presented his bar code to his daughter; she ran her hand over the darkened patch of skin allowing everyone seeing the visible mark that Manitcore had left on him.

"Time to go get lasered?" Max asked.

He picked up the toddler as he stood up. "Well, could try and grow my hair again; remember how that turned out last time?"

Max smirked. "And we all thought you looked so cute with bangs."

"Fluffy?" Dean asked.

Alec nodded. "Yeah."

"Not enough product in the world." Dean shoved his hands in his pockets.

Alec nodded, "Gets so long and then…"

"You turn into him." Dean pointed at Sam.

"Wouldn't say that, but then again I didn't have him to compare it to."

"Hey, excuse me," Sam said, breaking up the bonding session to Jo and Logan's amusement. "Can I ask…?"

Alec rubbed his neck with his free hand. "Oh yeah, little present from the old days."

"What?"

Max brushed her hair from the back of her neck to show her barcode; it was less pronounced than Alec's but it was there. "We all have them."

"Looks like it's an appointment for two." Alec smirked. "They tell us who we are: I'm X5-494 and she's X5-452.

Dean was more than slightly disgusted. "It's like they branded you, dude."

"They'd never do anything as mundane as that," Alec joked as Aimee clapped her little hands, listening to every word. "That would damage the multi-million dollar weapon systems."

"They encoded it into our DNA – we can't get rid of them, so we cover them up, laser them off. But they always come back," Max told them.

"Our children are born without them," Alec said, brushing aside the little girl's hair to show everyone Aimee's unblemished neck. "They're free; if need be our kids can disappear into the crowd and no one will ever know."

"It won't come to that; they made us, they have got to accept us!" Max said firmly.

* * *

Ellen came out the exam room tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. She stopped for a second; half not-expecting to see John's sons or her daughter, even though she had been told they were there.

She walked over to the group drying her eyes, gesturing to Alec to hand over her grandchild. Aimee fell quiet as she slipped into her grandmother's arms. "You want to see Grandpa? Do you?"

Amiee nodded, Ellen didn't say anything else as she walked back out of the room.

Dean looked at other two, puzzled at what was going on. Jo shook her head as Sam shrugged, both as clueless as Dean about what was going on.

"What's happening?" Sam asked Alec as Molly came back. Alec didn't answer as he slipped a protective arm around her.

"Any news?" Max asked Molly.

"Tests are clear." Molly smiled. "We've got him for a while longer."

"Wouldn't be right without the old guy." Alec planted a small kiss on the top of Molly's head. "Who'd keep Maxie in line?"

"Look, he decides to kick the bucket, I'll just bet he'd come back to haunt my ass just to tick me off." Maxie grinned; she'd miss the John if he left. He never sugar-coated things, always gave it to her straight – she'd always thought that since their coming here, John and Ellen had helped keep her the right side of honest.

"Thought you didn't believe in that sort of thing," Molly said, smiling. "We're all crack pots and crazy."

"I never said that; it's just, it's a little out there," Max replied. "There are other explanations for things: drugs, gas, toxic waste, mental conditioning. You of all people, Alec, know what places like Psy-Ops can do to you."

"Hey, don't dis my old vacation spot," Alec said, making light of the pain he suffered during each of his visits to that place. "They always had a spot open for me, even had a dungeon with my designation on it. Room service wasn't too bad either."

Max just shook her head at him.

"Is my Dad sick or something?" Dean asked, calmly, as his stomach began to turn at the thought.

Alec nodded. "Stomach cancer. But the treatment's taken so he should be okay now."

"Cancer?" Sam asked shocked, he looked over at Dean whose face had paled at that word.

"You spend some time in the pit, you're not going to come back without some consequences," Molly said. "But he's okay now."

Jo looked at the girl. "You sure?"

"You care?" Molly asked coldly.

"My mom does. So I guess I have to." Jo looked Molly in the eye.

"She raised me; they both did. That makes them my parents as well, Jo," Molly answered.

"Do you think he'd mind us going in?" Sam asked.

"Best go and see," Alec said, starting off to the room.

He knocked as he stuck his head around the door. Aimee was pulling at her Grandfather's beard as John laughed heartily. Dr Carr was explaining things to the couple.

"Hey, is it a private meeting or can anyone join in?" Alec asked.

"When has that ever stopped you?" John replied. "Understand we got some company?"

"You could say that." Alec looked over his shoulder. "But we can stay out here."

"We're almost done," Ellen said.

"Actually, I was hoping to talk to you, Mr McDowell, and Mr Dean Winchester if he was willing."

"I'm hearing the word 'study' here, aren't I?" Alec said, glancing at Dean.

Dean cringed. "No more needles."

John smiled as he heard his boy's views on the subject around the door. He looked at the little girl in his lap. "Uncle Deano don't like doctors. No, he don't. No, he don't."

The little girl began to giggle at her silly Grandpa as Dean poked his head around the door.

"Actually, I was more interested in CT scans," Dr Carr stated.

"Alec doesn't have a brain; we don't need a scan to prove that," Max joked.

"Hey, Maxie, I can pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time, wanna see?" Alec responded.

Max pushed him causing Alec to almost fall through the doorway. Sam burst out laughing.

"Our family," Ellen said, giving her husband a quick kiss. She stood up, picked up her granddaughter, and walked out the door.

John shook the Doctor's hand. "Thanks for everything."

Sam Carr nodded. "It's been a pleasure, John, no doubt I'll be seeing you soon, hopefully under better circumstances."

"Oh, is it our turn now?" Alec said.

* * *

"So, you'll meet us back at the house?" John queried as he headed toward his old pickup.

"Sure, got to go back to the club to pick up my bike, but Logan can drop me off." Alec nodded. "Hey, can I get my pass back?"

Dean dug through the pockets of the leather jacket he was wearing. "Sure. I won't need it, will I?"

"No, I can get us back," Molly said.

John smiled. "You sure you're gonna have enough room?"

Molly smirked. "Oh, I think I can manage."

Ellen just shook her head, opening the cab door. "You'll have a fight on your hands."

"Will not!" Molly said, heading toward the parking lot, followed by the other three.

Dean shoved his hands in his pockets as Molly led them toward the parked cars, he was thinking about what Dr. Carr had discussed with him and Alec. He stopped as they got to the parking lot – No it couldn't be!

"Oh God, I've been worried about you!" Dean cried out, running up to the Impala; he ran his hand over the body work, taking his time getting reacquainted with his baby. "They've been taking care of you? Have they?"

Dean continued to coo over the Chevy, pointing at the Winnie the Pooh sunscreen that had been placed over the back window in speechless disgust, before rushing around the back to check that there wasn't a Baby on Board bumper sticker.

"You have his car?" Sam asked Molly.

"Got her when I finished school; Dad didn't see much point in her sitting in the yard," Molly replied, pushing past Dean to get to the back seat.

Dean looked inside; the upholstery looked as if it was being taken care of, though there was a baby seat - a brightly coloured monstrosity - sitting right in behind the driver's seat.

"Do you want me to pop the hood for you?" Molly asked as Dean continued to look over the old car; he looked at her for a second, thinking.

"Dude, don't." Sam swatted his brother.

"It's okay, Sam." Molly answered as she finished putting her daughter in her car seat. "She runs; hard getting parts for her sometimes, but she does okay for an old girl pushing sixty."

"You sure?" Dean's asked, his voice filled with concern. "'Cause she used to get a little crabby when it got cold."

"I'm John Winchester's daughter, Dean. You think he'd give her to me without me knowing how to take care of her?"

Dean smiled with a wide–eyed, little boy grin. "Can I drive?"

"No, that look don't work on me, seen it too many times. And the scary thing is I'm noticing Little Mole has been getting a similar look." Molly smiled. "The car is mine now."

"She was mine first," Dean said with firm resolve in his voice.

"Technically it was Dad's," Sam said, getting in the back seat beside Jo and the baby.

"Why do you call her Little Mole?" Jo asked as they passed one of the sector gates.

"'Cause we already have a Big Mole," Molly answered while concentrating on the road.

"The big lizard thing?" Sam asked.

Molly nodded. "Yeah, that's him; and before you ask, no, I'm not with Alec, neither of us want to be and that's it. He's family, and we share a daughter. And we're all happy with that."

"So," Dean said, trying to steer the conversation away from the question that hadn't been asked, "you nicknamed your daughter after the creature from the Black Lagoon?"

"He's a DAC, built for desert combat; and granted, he's a little rough, but he's fun. Okay at poker too."

"You fix cars and play poker?" Sam sighed. Not exactly the future Amelia would have wanted for the little girl in the coffee shop.

"I play pool and I'm not a bad shot too, if you're wondering," she added.

"Dad must be so proud," Sam added disapprovingly.

"Mom was as big on me learning as Dad was. Right, Jo?"

"If you start something, you got to do it well," Jo said. "But why 'Mole'?" Returning to the question that had yet to be been answered.

Molly grinned. "Because it wasn't one of the names we talked about if she was a boy."

Aimee handed Jo one of her toys. "Play with Ducky?"

"Thanks," Jo said, picking up the plush toy.

"We worked out if she was a he, he'd have been William Joshua Jonathon Biggs Samuel Dean Watson Winchester, but she wasn't, so we have an Aimee Maxine Cynthia Joanne Watson Winchester instead. Alec didn't mind losing the McDowell part as he'd just picked it up from some movie he saw, anyway."

"So, why 'Mole', and why was I last?" asked Dean.

Molly gave him a wry smile. "'Cause at one point Logan got discussed as a possible middle name, so was Sketchy and Normal, but never Mole. Though it almost got to the stupid point of a roll-call with all the middle names - everyone putting in a name or two from their old units - so we tried to cut it down, and we thought you guys were dead so you wouldn't complain where you came. But we promised Mole that we'd use the nickname 'Little Mole' just to keep him sweet; granted, at the time he was convinced Aimee was going to be a little boy."

"Bet this Mole thing got a kick out the fact you still used it," Sam said.

Molly laughed, "Oh, Alec insisted, kind of a payback for all the times Mole called him Princess."

Dean just peered at her, not sure what to say to that.

"So, you named her after Max, Cindy and Jo - and your mom, your real mom?" Sam enquired.

"Yes and no. See, it was Billy's idea before he died: A for my Amelia, my real mom; M for Mary, you guy's mom, because she was so important to Dad; and E for Mom, Jo's, mine and Billy's. See, A-M-E sounds like Aimee when you run it together. That way I wouldn't have to pick between Ellen and Amelia for a name."

"Sounds like he was a bright kid," Dean said.

"Billy? Yeah, he was." Molly slammed on the brakes. "Sh- sugar."

"What?" Dean asked. He could see two guys standing at a street corner, they looked strange. One had a tattooed steel skullcap.

Molly looked over her shoulder, seeing two more standing by the back of the car. "Steelheads."

"What?" Sam asked, looking through the window.

"Mole, sweetie, hold on tight, okay? Mommy might have to do a bad thing," Molly said as one of the guys came toward the car.

"Hoy! You no pay, you no get through!" a man with one arm said, banging a hand down on the hood.

"I hate when they do that." Molly gritted her teeth as she rolled down the window a crack. "Didn't know this was a toll road, didn't see a sign. Sorry about that, I'll just back up and I'll be on my way."

"You don't pay, you don't get through," reiterated the deformed man.

"Saving up are we?" She nodded toward the arm. "New shipment in?"

The Steelhead nodded, "Japanese, real sweet. So, we need the cash; you need the road. Simple business deal: you pay for… lets see… four of you. I'll be nice; the kid can travel for free."

More Steelheads began to appear. Molly flung the car into reverse and promptly ploughed through the gang members. She stopped, put the car into drive and sped forward, before turning the wheel abruptly and sending the car spinning around to face the other way. Amiee squealed in delight.

About three blocks away she stopped the car. Dean steadied himself with a hand on the dashboard. "Dad teach you to drive too?"

Molly turned her attention to the little girl strapped in her chair. "Aimee, you okay?"

The little girl seemed to be excited. "Do it again. Do it again!"

Molly sank back down in her chair, relieved at the baby's reaction. "No, Aimee, and we don't tell Daddy or Grandpa we did that, okay?"

"Mommy, do it again!" the little girl yelled.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" Jo asked, catching her breath.

"Steelheads. Bunch of idiots, metal implants, they even cut their own limbs off replace them with cybernetic ones. I thought they'd been run out of town, but obviously I was wrong."

"Take it it was Alec and his friends that ran them off last time?" Dean asked.

"The younger gang members were trying to make a name for themselves, taking on transgenics who were coming here, no matter what state they were in. Max and a few others didn't like it, especially seeing how the females were settling down, starting to get pregnant. So they were told to go." Molly got out of the car to check the paint work, as did Dean.

"And Alec?"

Molly inspected a little dent in the hood. "Oh, they're probably pissed at him as well, just out of principle."

"Why do I get the feeling half this city is?" Dean observed.

"What can I say, he gets around," she said as the two of them got back into the car. "What would you do if you were a young, free, highly-trained assassination unit who had been locked away for the first twenty-one years of your life?"

"Assassination unit?" Dean raised an eyebrow. "He killed people?"

"Well, you didn't think the Manticore created them to be in the local knitting circle, did you?" she asked, starting the car.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer : Please see other chapters.

I know this chapter is a little mean to Alec and is Max light so let me know what you think

* * *

Ellen was pulling out photo albums while John was busy getting out an old DVD player as they got into the house.

"You have any problems?" John asked as the Aimee ran past him to go find Joshua: she'd missed him.

"No, just gave them a quick tour of the local wildlife," Molly said as she put down the baby bag. "And I'm hiding the keys."

"Hey, I'm just saying: she deserves someone's undivided attention and you've got a kid to raise." Dean argued.

"So, 'cause I've got a kid I'm not supposed to have my car?" Molly asked. "That is the craziest reason for me to hand her over I think I've ever heard. She's got enough room in the trunk for the baby's stuff and space to spare, be it for groceries, or whatever else is needed. She's built like a tank and can move fast when I need her to; all in all, I think she's the perfect family car in a post-pulse world."

"Yeah, but do you know her faults and shortcomings and forgive her for them?" Dean argued. "When it comes down to it, do you put her first?"

She just looked at him. "The car or my kid? You're nuts!"

John turned to Sam. "This is going to go on for days."

"You okay?" Sam asked, "You know with…?"

"Yeah, clean bill of health." John nodded. "Just got you boys back, so I'm not going anywhere."

"Cancer, huh? Pretty heavy." Sam said as Molly and Dean continued their discussion over the merits of a young mother driving a muscle car.

"It happens; just got the all clear. I've been in remission for a while. They caught it in time, and as I said I'm not going anywhere yet." John grinned, glancing over at his wife who was showing Jo some pictures. "Ellen would kill me."

"You two seem happy," Sam noted; he'd seen it since he'd got here, his Dad seemed lighter than he remembered.

"I'd like to say spending time in hell does that to you, but I think being cooped up for more than six months as the world almost ended, kind of changes your view on things," John replied. "Anyway, after the pulse tracking became harder, reports of the Demon had kind of dried up before that; it's like his big war was postponed or something, and at that point I had some other things to think about."

"Billy?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, Billy; couldn't leave Ellen to raise him on her own, not when she had Molly and Ash to take care of as well. Sam, I know that I wasn't the father that you and your brother needed, but she gave me a second chance, she let me do right by Bill, and let me be there for Molly." John smiled in Ellen's direction. The woman had breathed life into him again. "Anyway, hunters still came to the Roadhouse so I still kept my hand in, looking up leads; anything I could find about the Demon, his kids, or anything about where you three could have been."

"So, that's where Alec came in?" Sam asked, helping his father plug in the DVD player.

"Yeah, well, Billy saw him first – damn idiot got his face plastered on the nightly news during that hostage situation at his old job. Billy just came running into the yard to grab me, shouting that Dean was on the TV."

"So, you came to check it out?"

John nodded. "Got here four days after they set up that Freak Nation of theirs, the place was chaos: tanks rolling in; local, state and Federal authorities arguing who was taking was in charge; media screaming for someone to blame. That damn cult was skulking around the place, trying to fire everyone up to wipe the bio threat off the face of the earth."

"You said something about the cult before. What is it?"

"Breeders: worship some sort of snake demon. Truth is, they're probably less human than Joshua and his kind, now. Don't feel pain, strong, clever, and been sitting in the wings waiting for the world to go to hell enough to take over. If it came down to a one on one fight we'd lose, but…"

"With the transgenics?"

"Sandeman created them to stand in the way. Manticore got its supersoldiers and didn't know they were creating the only real defence mankind has against a bunch of inbred whackos with serious influence, not just on this side, but on the other," John explained.

"So, you came here looking for answers?" Sam continued.

"Ellen thought I was a damn fool."

"But you were hoping?"

John nodded. "Wasn't sure if he was one of the freaks or not. A large part of me hoped that he was Dean's kid; he was old enough for that, just thought that the poor guy had the unfortunate luck to look like his father. Think Ellen didn't want to consider it, said the kid was too young to tell me anything, or not young enough..."

"Why?"

"Well, she said that Jo had a thing for your brother."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, she did."

"Think Ellen was praying that, maybe, the three of you just left, that Jo and Dean wanted to be together, settle down, get away, just not wanting to tell her; decided if they were getting out, they took you with them."

"We disappeared in 2007, so any kids they would have had would still be at school, not working. So, if Alec was Dean's kid, then it'd be from before that."

"Right." John took a breath. "But he wasn't. When the Doc told us that the human part of him was my son, you could've knocked me over right then and there."

"I could imagine. So, he decided to find out about us?"

"He was damn curious, to say the least; but he had to stay, help set up Terminal City. He came after it died down, stayed for almost a year, but then had to go back. He's the SIC of the place; never thought I'd see one of my boys have that type of responsibility. Sure, you wanted to be a lawyer, and I was proud of you for that, Sam, though I never told you. But you screw up in that job, someone goes to jail. We screwed up on a hunt, it was just us and few others get killed; Alec and Max screw up, then the city implodes."

"Not something I want to think about." Sam thought this world was complicated enough; and now there was someone with an attention span shorter than his brother in control of Seattle's meltdown button. "So, you came here in the end?"

"Molly did, we just followed. Don't mean I like how they got her, but I couldn't imagine not having that little girl of theirs. Alec dotes on Aimee, though don't know what he's gonna do when she hits thirteen."

Sam was curious. "Why? What happens when Aimee hits thirteen?"

"Might not happen – Molly's ordinary, so they could be lucky. But I did hear him talk about a big castle with a moat on top of a mountain somewhere, with lots of Arctic division types as armed guards." John's lip curled into a little smile, imagining Alec's plan of what to do if his little girl got struck down with a full blown heat. "Though, I think Gem's sticking her head in the sand about Eve; girl sticks her head in the sand about it for herself as it is."

Sam looked at his Dad for a second, trying to work out what John was talking about.

"Are you two going to come over here, or gonna talk all day?" Ellen asked her husband and Sam as the others continued looking at the albums.

"Sure." John sat down at the table. "What did Carr want?" he asked Dean.

"Wants to take pictures of my brain, compare them to Alec's see what differences there are."

"They're going to have to find one in there first," Sam joked, sliding into the seat beside Dean, beginning to look through the pictures of the younger brother he'd never met.

Dean swatted his brother's arm. "Shut up."

Ellen pointed to a picture of Billy and Ash outside the Roadhouse. "He's going after the serotonin deficiency, isn't he?"

"Yeah, said something like that, though I don't know exactly what he was on about." Dean took a second to look at pictures of a little boy with Down's sitting on John's shoulders, his face covered in cotton candy.

"Some of the X5's have a brain imbalance, can't regulate chemicals right; fine for a while, or if they get supplements, but it can cause them to have full blown seizures," Ellen explained. "Manitcore used to send them out with pills or instructions to eat only certain foods."

"Can be a real problem if more than half your ruling council is made up of that series," John said, passing over a report card.

"So, that's what the turkeys and the milk was for?" Sam asked.

Ellen nodded. "Not all of them are affected, but you don't take chances with your brain. Last two shipments of pills were no good, so they had to find another source, and meat prices were going through the roof when the local stores worked out that they were stockpiling turkey meat."

Jo looked at John for a second. "Enter stage left, the man who knows a few people with guns and a little hunting experience."

"Also, some idea how to get things on the black market," Ellen said, looking at her husband with a little smile on her face.

Dean just looked between the two of them. "You two have been smuggling in pills for them in those dead birds, haven't you?"

"Well, police don't tend to stick their hands up dead things if they don't have to, and herbal supplements have no street value, except to Max's kind." John grinned. "The birds, well, we just asked anyone who's passing to bring a bird or two, even if the stuffing ain't exactly the usual. So happens that wild turkeys are as dangerous as werewolves these days. Means that we're going to have one hell of a big Thanksgiving party this year."

"So, the Doc thinks he can sort the problem with me?" Dean looked a little shocked that suddenly there was going to be all this pressure put upon him.

Ellen smiled at the boy. "Probably wants to see what differences there are between the ordinary and transgenic versions of the same DNA. See how differently your brains are wired. He's taken pictures of most of the X5's and X6's, doing the same to all the kids who only have one parent who's an X5. Though, didn't they have a real problem getting Whiskers in to the machine?"

"His daddy is what they call a 'nomlie'. Poor kid was born with an honest to God tail. Couldn't keep still when they put him in the scanner, kid can't lie on his back," John added. "Funny as hell when he plays stick ball, swishes the thing around, confuses the hell out of the other kids."

Jo tried to picture this boy playing with his other mutant friends. "I'm in the twilight zone."

"You could say that." John let out a little laugh.

They talked about Billy for what seemed like an age; showed them pictures and films they had made, took them to what was his bedroom, the room that had been Joshua's domain while they had been there. The dogman was sitting on the floor with the little girl in his lap, finger painting. He'd almost finished touching up the mural he had done for the boy who had died a couple of years before.

"You done yet?" John asked.

"Almost finished, just have to clean up one corner and all done. Billy's room will be back to way it was," Joshua said, making sure Aimee's paint-covered hands stayed away from the carpet.

Ellen looked at the wall; it was a multitude of colors that her little boy had loved. "Thanks for this, Joshua."

"Don't thank me. Billy made me promise. Told me to keep adding things." He began to point things out. "See, there's Little Mole, she's got her blue shirt on; there's them; and I painted the party too, though it hasn't happened yet."

"He'd like that, Josh." John put a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder.

"Billy will be looking down, he said he would," Joshua said, continuing to pay attention to the little girl's art work. "Next time Little Mole will be big enough to help, just got to keep up with her lessons."

Jo looked at the bit of paper with blobs on it. "She's good."

"She's one of us, 'course she is," Joshua said as if Jo had stated the obvious, though he didn't clarify who he meant by 'us'.

* * *

"So, if they ain't together, am I guessing it was a one time thing?" Dean enquired of his father as Molly took her daughter to get her cleaned up.

"You should ask them," John said, not wanting to talk about it.

Jo glanced at Dean before saying, "We were just wondering."

John knotted his brow, not wanting the subject discussed.

"Dad, you raised Molly, she's your daughter and Alec is basically your son," noted Sam.

"I mean, okay, they ain't got any blood ties, but it's all a bit close to banjo country," commented Dean. "Especially when you factor in what happened between Sam and her mother."

Sam glowered at his brother. "Dean!"

"Look, it just seems like a world of wrongness, okay?" Dean said, holding up his hands.

"What happened between Sam and Molly's mother?" Ellen asked.

"Nothing. The demon got her, okay?" Sam said, really not wanting to be reminded that the last woman he had sex with had been killed the same day, especially seeing how her daughter now had a child by someone who was effectively his brother.

"None of us are happy about what happened, but it did, and now they have a little girl. They just make the best of it," said Ellen who, just like John, wanted the subject dropped.

"Why is this a touchy subject?" Jo asked. "Why aren't they happy about what happened between them?"

Ellen put down the photo album she had in her hand. "It was my fault, okay?"

"It wasn't your fault, it happened." John pulled his wife into his arms. "It turned out alright, they're both alive, and we got Aimee out of it."

"I pushed her John; you know I did. If I hadn't kept telling her that he was bad news, she wouldn't have gone," Ellen said shaking her head.

"And if I hadn't busted my arm, I would have gone, and I'd probably be dead by now."

Ellen nuzzled closer into her husband. "John, you wouldn't have walked into such a stupid trap. She didn't have the experience. Gregory was supposed to be looking out for her."

Dean and Sam just watched as their father continued to comfort Ellen.

"I know, but you were right to take Alec along. If you hadn't, both of you wouldn't be here, and I'd be standing here telling Jo that I lost her mother, too; and I couldn't do that!"

Jo was confused: her mother never went out on a hunt, never!

"What happened?" Sam asked firmly.

Ellen held onto her husband. "Molly had to go prove herself to this hunter Gregory. She'd had a crush on him since she was a teenager. He thought it was a hoot, 'til she turned 18 and thought why not."

"He was cocky. Didn't like him sniffing round her, kept them apart for as long as I could," John said. "Alec showing up didn't help the situation."

"Too much like Dean?" Sam asked. He could imagine it, Alec flirting with anything in a skirt just for the fun of it, especially Molly. Though he'd never cross the line without encouragement, if you didn't know that part it could piss anyone off: some guy getting too close to your girl, though both of them saying it's completely innocent.

"Gregory turned up with a hunt. Should have seen it straight off that he hadn't prepared enough; I just thought he was trying to get on my good side," John explained. "I'd busted my arm, couldn't go anyway, so he offers it to Alec. Boy's not stupid, he may be military, but he don't know enough about hunting to go on one without understanding exactly what he's going after."

"So, Molly took it?" Jo asked, imagining herself doing the same thing.

"Yeah, she thought she could prove to Ken Gregory that she had his back, and then he would stop going on about her and Alec," Ellen said. "With you, Jo, you wanted to actually hunt; I didn't want you hurt. With her, she just wanted to show us that she was capable if she had too. Me and Alec went after them when we found out they were gone."

"Even if it hadn't gone wrong, I don't think she would have hunted again," John added. "As it is, she won't hunt with Aimee, sticks to research."

"So, she's with this guy Gregory, how do her and Alec fit in?" Dean was confused at this point.

"Gregory thought it some sort of fairy cat, you know: a Cait Sith. He was wrong, it wasn't." John took a breath before continuing the story. "He hadn't seen the patterns, bite radius varied too much; it was a spirit going from mountain lion to mountain lion, occasionally jumping into people."

"It wasn't consensual, it just happened. Neither of them, Alec or Molly wanted it!" Ellen blurted out. "It just took control of the feline part of him."

"Whoa, wait a minute, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Dean didn't like the sound of this. "This other version of me is not only a killer, but a…? And you let IT near her and the kid?"

They heard the door slam behind them.

"Shit! How long had he been standing there?" John said, getting to the front door in time to see the familiar bike take off.

"What's going on?" Molly said, coming into the room with Aimee in her arms at hearing the commotion.

"Alec forced you?" Sam asked in disbelief.

"What?" Molly quickly put down her daughter, not wanting her to hear this. "Aimee, go find Joshua."

The little girl looked at her mommy; everyone was upset, she didn't like it. "Aimee, go now."

The little girl nodded at her before she ran off to find her big friend.

"What have you been telling them?" Molly asked her parents.

"They asked. They jumped to conclusions." John rested his hands on the worktop. "Alec heard the whole thing."

"Oh, that's great," Molly said, running a palm across her face. "No, Sam, he didn't. If you want to know, I attacked him."

"You weren't yourself," Ellen said.

"Damn right, I wasn't myself!" Molly continued. "I got hit by the thing before Mom got there. Kenny didn't know what to do; Mom decided that Alec had to stay at the motel while they tried to find me and exorcise it. Thought seeing how he had cat DNA in him, that he'd be at bigger risk from it jumping into him, and no way could we have stopped a possessed transgenic."

"So, how…?" Sam asked.

"Does he ever listen to you when you tell him to do something?" Molly pointed to Dean.

Sam shook his head. "No, not really."

"Well, guess who didn't either. Which was a good thing; if he hadn't shown up, I probably would have ripped out my own mother's throat," Molly said. "One minute I'm standing over her ready to kill. Next I'm falling down the hillside, as was Alec."

"Where was the other guy?" Dean asked.

"She'd knocked him out. He didn't even see her coming," Ellen said.

Jo watched the other girl cross her arms. "So, it jumped to Alec?"

Molly shook her head. "No, it stayed in me. It was a spirit that could control cats. It had gotten bored killing people; there it was, finding itself with a 6ft foot tom to play with, decided it could have some fun. What do you think happened?"

"Oh, Jesus!" Dean felt sick, neither one had wanted it. The two of them had just been playthings to some angry, twisted animal spirit.

"We couldn't find them, so I called your father." Ellen grabbed John's hand. "He caught up with them three days later. Had to shoot Alec up with so much tranquilizer that at one point we thought he'd never wake up."

"Boy was ashamed," John said, understanding Alec sentiments on the whole situation. "I didn't help, blamed him for most of it, because I couldn't get my hands on Ken Gregory: ass had just taken off. But, who the hell am I to judge when it comes to doing things when something else in the driving seat?"

Sam looked at the floor for a second; he remembered the feeling in the pit of his stomach the first time he had seen the bullet wound he had put in his brother.

John sighed. "I've got to give Alec his due, he stayed there, took what I dished out. Few weeks later, he got the call that they needed him here. He stood in that bar and told me he was going, but he'd be back as soon as he could to take whatever punishment I could think of. Even gave me a number for Logan, so I could find him if he wasn't back in three months."

They stood there silently for a few seconds, unsure what to say.

"So, you found that you were pregnant from a transgenic, and had conceived while possessed?" Jo asked Molly.

She nodded. "Yes."

"And you decided to have the baby?" Sam asked, continuing Jo's train of thought.

"Yes, I did!" Molly said.

"Not that she isn't beautiful, but why did you think that was a good idea?" Jo reasoned. "Why take the risk? You had no idea what you were carrying."

Molly didn't say a word, she just walked off; she wasn't justifying herself, not to them. It had been their fault she had to make the decision in the first place. She was going to check on her daughter.

"Why did you let her take that risk?" Jo asked her mother.

"Maybe because she thought it was her only chance to have a baby of her own," Ellen said, going after Molly.

"What?" Sam asked as John watched his wife go to check on Molly.

"When I came back, Molly was hurt pretty bad. Whatever had caused you three to disappear, flung her through that cabin wall, messed her insides up real bad," John explained.

"Oh, hell." Jo could see where this was going. "Were they sure?"

"Pretty much." John nodded. "I remember when her and your mother got back from the doctor's; she was only 12. Don't know who was more upset, her or Ellen, but I don't think it really sunk in what it meant to be told you'll never hold a baby of your own in your arms till she was older. As for Ellen, she just saw all Molly's dreams shrink that day."

"So, when she found out she was pregnant, she took the chance, huh?" Dean said, everything becoming clearer. Sam and Jo's decision to bring the kid with them had had a lot farther reaching effects for her, more than just helping to bring his father back.

"She came here 'cause she needed a Doctor who could deal with the transgenic part. Logan set her up with Carr, and Max talked Alec into actually getting involved with the baby," John replied. "I'm telling you, that girl could sweet talk the birds from the trees if she had too. Shame she tends to think blunt force trauma will get her places faster."

"Right, but you came after her, Dad?" Sam asked.

"'Course I did. I was angry, Sam, Molly is my little girl and I hadn't protected her. As for Alec, I had treated him real bad, especially seeing everything he had gone through. He was as much of a victim in this as her," John said, before turning his attention to his eldest son. "They built him to be a killer, Dean; it wasn't summer camp he grew up in, it was kill or be killed, and that isn't just a saying to him. He's done some terrible things, but that's what they built him to do. But he is a Winchester; I don't care if he goes by the name McDowell Dean. He's like you, he's a survivor, and he's kept a hell of a lot of people alive in the past few years"

Dean looked at his father. "So, what now?"

"We gonna go and find him, that's what we're gonna do, and you're gonna apologize."

* * *

Jo went into the bedroom to see both Molly and Ellen sitting on the bed watching Joshua paint. The toddler sitting quietly her mother's arms; she knew that Mommy and Grandma were upset, though they hadn't been shouting.

Joshua got up to leave the women alone, though Jo could have sworn she heard a low growl as he passed her.

"Look, I'm still playing catch-up here, Mom. I'm sorry if bringing this up ain't good for you."

"Jo, it's all right, you would have found out at some point," Ellen said. "Same about Billy."

"This place is so strange, Mom; I just want to go back to the way it was." Tears began to well up in Jo's eyes. "I can't go anywhere, I can't hunt. I don't know what to hunt… and you're different too. The only thing that is the same is Sam and Dean, but I want you to be the same, I want the Roadhouse, I want Ash, I want Molly to be three years old again."

Ellen took her daughter's hand, sitting her down beside them. "Well, things aren't going to go back to the way it was, honey. This is it, this is real, the world went to hell in a hay cart and we survived it, honey. Just be glad you missed it."

Jo rubbed a tear away. "Maybe Sam or Ash can find us a way back, and then Molly wouldn't get hurt. Maybe find a way to stop the pulse thing. Yeah, we could tell everyone about the Manticore place and get them out so they'd be free."

Ellen stroked her daughter's hair. "No, Jo, it's too late for that. Even if you can go back then, you can't change anything. They'd never believe you about the pulse, and if you get someone to listen to you about Manticore, they'll just kill all of them as kids."

"Is it really that bad here?" Molly asked. "I know it's strange for you, but you'll get used to it."

"It's John, isn't it? Is it 'cause I married John?" Ellen asked.

"He was with Dad when he died. He shot..."

"I know, honey. I know, I know." She continued to stroke Jo's hair. "Bill, he knew the risk. John couldn't see him suffer. Your Daddy would have done the same thing to John; they never talked about it but any hunter would. Talk to Sam and Dean, ask them if they got hurt that bad would they blame each other if they had to do the same thing."

Jo leaned into her mother. "But why?"

Ellen smiled. "John was there. I could talk to him about losing you, him losing the boys, about Bill. It took a while, but he'd told me about what they'd done to him when he was on the other side. It just went on from there, and Molly just adored him."

"He noticed that I was there. Didn't treat me like some of the other hunters did, like I was just an annoying kid hanging around the bar," said Molly.

"They treated me the same when I was little," Jo said. Aimee let go of her mother and climbed into Jo's lap.

"Jo, without John, me and Molly wouldn't have survived. I wouldn't have had my little boy, and I wouldn't part with a minute I had with him. Billy was an angel that came into my life, and I thank God for him. The only regret I have is that you never got to meet him."

Joshua looked around the door at the three women; they were still talking, he left them to it.

* * *

Joshua found Sam sitting in the kitchen. John and Dean already left. He walked over to the fridge to pull out a drink.

"Guess you know what was said?" Sam asked.

Joshua nodded and closed the fridge door. "Dean say bad things about Alec. Things that aren't true; Alec never hurt anyone like that, he could never hurt anyone like that. If you don't believe Molly, ask Max."

"It just sounds bad."

Joshua sat down at the table across from Sam. "Alec don't want Dean to think bad of him."

Sam sighed. "He doesn't, man. It's just that Dean… he's not handling this real well. Too many things being thrown at him at once, and he doesn't have any way to get frustrations out. If we were home, we'd probably be off hunting something, or he'd be in a bar somewhere cutting loose. But we can't do that here."

Joshua sat up straight. "You don't know the rules, who to trust."

"Basically, yeah," Sam nodded. "Maybe Jo's right; we should try and find a way back or go somewhere else. It could be easier for everyone."

"No," Joshua said firmly. "Ellen and John are good people, happy you are here. Maybe you here 'cause you meant to be here now."

"What?"

"You hunt?" Joshua asked.

"Yeah." Sam replied.

"Dalton, Ralph, Bugle, all told me stories of things they saw when out with hunters. Scary things, dangerous things: things we don't know about. Things that White prays to."

"So?"

"Alec, Max, think like soldiers, protect what they can, know that sometimes you need to retreat to survive. Logan likes to bring things to the light, tell people what is happening. You, Dean and Jo don't care about that; you stop things, no retreat, no compromise, no need to tell anyone, let people get on with their lives. John too old to hunt now, Ellen and Molly have to look after Little Mole. Maybe a storm coming; and you meant to tell us how to stop it."

Sam didn't like what Joshua was saying, but he couldn't fault the dogman's reasoning.

* * *

Cindy picked up the empty glass as she cleaned up the bar.

"Where is he, Cindy?" John asked, coming into the bar. "Logan said he was here, so where is he now?"

Cindy looked up and gave Dean a look that could kill. "He's gone. Boo with him."

"Any idea where?" Dean asked apologetically.

"Cindy ain't gotta tell you nuttin'." She put down her cloth. "Pretty boy can be an ass, but he don't deserve what you been dishing out."

"Cindy, where are they?" John said, hoping that he wouldn't have to go through a full blown argument.

"You know where they'll be."

John scratched his head. "Oh, shit."

As John walked out the bar, Cindy called out, "Papa W.?"

"Yeah, girl?"

"You take care of our boy, you hear me?"

"Sure, Cindy."

Dean followed his father to the pick up truck. "She's a piece of work."

"Yeah, she is." John opened the door. "Damn good worker, too. Ellen's thinking about giving her a share in this place."

"Really?" Dean said, getting into the pick up.

"She isn't your type," John said, starting the engine.

"How do you know?" Dean gave his Dad a little smile.

"I just know, okay? You're not her type."

Dean smile broke out into a wide toothy grin."Always liked a challenge. So, she's not happy with me, but I could grow on her."

"Like fungus, more like it. Trust me, you'll get nowhere with her."

"What, Alec get there first?"

John shook his head. "No, Alec isn't her type either."

"So? What, she'd prefer someone more sensitive, more like Sam?"

"Not even Sam."

"How do you know?"

John sighed. "In the grand scheme of things, Jo or Molly would get further with her than you or your brothers."

"Oh," Dean said. "What about Max?"

"You'd have to have a death wish." John shook his head; he had to admit he'd missed conversations like this.

As they pulled up to the needle, John looked up. "Dean, you still okay with heights?"

Dean looked through the windscreen. "Yeah. Why?"

* * *

They just sat there in silence looking out over the city.

"Can you find a more awkward place to clear your head, man?" Dean said, climbing up to the top. He kept close to the doorway as the two leaders of the transgenic army sat at the edge. Alec just turned to face the city.

"What do you want?" Max asked, leaving Alec to brood for a few seconds longer.

Dean took a small step forward. "I was out of line, okay? Didn't know the whole story."

"Damn straight you didn't!" Max glowered. "We might be part animal but we don't behave like it! Molly and him are singing from the same hymn sheet on this; they always have! You don't have any right to say anything, you weren't here!"

"I know, as I said, I was out of line." Dean steadied himself for a second.

"We're people, not things. We have names; we take responsibility for our actions, take care of our own!" Max stood up and continued to take the offensive. "We took care of your family, where the hell were you?"

Dean didn't know how to answer her question.

"Where's Pops?" Alec asked not looking at Dean. "Guessing he brought you here."

"Yeah, he's downstairs. He ain't as sprightly as he used to be."

"If you're here just because he told you, then you should go!" Max said, getting in Dean's face. "We don't want you here!"

"Look, I said I was out of line. You want to get on my case, Max, then you'll have to take a number behind your friend Cindy."

Max smirked. "Won't need to then; once she's finished, there won't be anything left."

"I'll be fine Maxie," Alec said, turning around.

"You sure?" she moved over to him and crouched down as he nodded. She leaned into him until their foreheads touched, Dean shifted awkwardly feeling uncomfortable about being what obviously was a private moment.

"I'll be at the bottom, okay?" Max said to Alec, to which he nodded as she got up.

Max gave Dean a death stare as she left them; she turned to Alec throwing a passing comment before she started her descent. "In case you want to throw him off, I'll get Logan to get your papers for Canada ready."

Dean edged forward a bit more until he was side by side with his twin.

"Look, man, I'm sorry," he said as he sat down.

"You can think what you want, so don't sweat it." Alec watched the lights in the city below.

"They told me the rest of it. You had no control, neither did she. It can be a right bitch when things do that to you."

Alec still didn't turn around. "It shouldn't have happened. One minute I'm fighting, trying to stop her from hurting anyone, hurting herself. The next I wasn't even there. I should have been stronger, I should have fought harder."

"Look, you're only human, well, you're not, but… Oh Christ, I'm not good at this. You need Sam for moments like this," Dean said, tripping over his tongue as Alec looked at him.

"What?" Alec was confused.

"Yeah, he'd be all with the crying and the hugging and the Teen Choice Award moments. Me, I'm more the let's get a beer and forget about it, maybe punch you in the arm a bit."

Alec shook his head. "Great, they made me from modern-day Neanderthal man."

"What can I say, I'm a simple guy. Didn't ask for anyone to clone me."

"Didn't ask to be born," Alec replied.

"Dad told me it was tough for you growing up. Part of me kind of feels responsible, but I shouldn't 'cause I didn't know you existed. Anyway, what would I have done, try and break you out?" Dean said.

"You'd have been dead before you'd have gotten to the gate," Alec replied.

"Good thing I didn't hear about you, then. I guess I wouldn't be here."

"It wasn't so bad: in places. Had a roof over my head, three meals a day, medical and dental; they made sure I got an education."

Dean looked out at Seattle. "Contract killing. Good education."

"Wasn't contract, it was orders; I was made for combat, solo jobs came later. Anyway, if I hadn't done what I was told…" Alec started.

"I know you would have been dead," Dean sympathized, he didn't want to think about Alec's childhood.

"They had worse things than death."

"Look, man, about what I said, things out there can be tricky. They get under your skin and you find yourself doing stuff that you'd never even think of doing. You do your best and that's all you can do," Dean said.

Alec shook his head. "That's not the problem."

"What is the problem? I know having me say that probably hurt, but I didn't mean it. I don't have any tact, open my stupid mouth and words come out. See, that's why I need Sam – keeps me from having to get around hopping 'cause if he weren't around, I'd always have one foot in my mouth."

Alec smiled a little. "Don't know how I've coped without a version of him."

"Well, that Logan guy is the closest thing I've seen to my brother so far. Probably does the same thing for you."

"Yeah, and the wanting me dead occasionally doesn't come into it. That, and the fact we're both stuck in this weird triangle thing, and it gets even more complicated when you shove in Molly and Little Mole."

Dean glanced behind him, guessing that he was meaning Max. "I'm not gonna ask. But if it's any help, Sam wants to kill me at times and me, him."

"Well, you didn't almost succeed the first time you met him," Alec said, remembering his and Logan's first meeting.

"Dropped Sam on his head once as a kid, does that count?"

"Explains why he needs all that hair, probably got a weird shaped noggin."

"Put Nair in his Shampoo once, think he's had a complex about going bald ever since."

Alec grinned; he could imagine that.

"Look, man, I'm sorry," Dean said. "You and Molly are cool with things, then it's fine. As I said, they can get under your skin, and if you're sweating the fact that the bits you remember felt good – the losing control part – she's probably got the same feeling."

"Yeah, well, no one is waiting for her to screw up." Alec turned to face the cityscape, scrubbing his hands through his hair. "What are we suppose to tell Aimee, when she's older?"

Dean shrugged. "No idea, glad I'm not in your shoes. The fact you sweat is good, means that it bothers you about what happened. If it didn't, I'd be more worried; it's easy to go to the dark side, harder to touch it and come back. But I'm guessing you want to put the past behind you, so fine. Next time I say something stupid, tell me to shut up."

"And they say I'm high verbal."

"Well, you were being quiet, had to do the talking for two, and for us that's a lot of words." Dean smirked as the city lights twinkled below. "Anyway, I think I got to send a thank you your way."

"Why?" asked Alec

"Dad said he probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."

"Does he mean after Billy?"

"Yeah, says you talked him into getting treatment 'cause he didn't want to after Billy died."

"Well, he was being an ass."

Dean nodded. "Sounds about right – what did you say?"

"Told him I needed him around, that's all."

"That ain't all. John Winchester is a stubborn SOB when he wants to be."

"Just reminded him that Ellen could teach Molly to be a mother, but what the hell did I know about being a father?" Alec explained.

"I could see that working."

"Honestly, scared me shitless when she was born; wanted to run, but I couldn't."

"Small things like babies will do that to you."

"Max can't help with a male perspective, so who was I going to talk to about things like that? Logan or Normal? If I took their advice she'd be out wearing a cape trying to save the world, shouting, 'bip, bip, bip,' right now"

"That's a real scary thought."

"We've been all running round trying to make sure we don't get locked up again or worse. I don't have the skills to raise a kid without help. Give me an M16 and I can strip it and put it back together in less than 30 seconds; but a little baby?"

"You got to be gentle," Dean nodded remembering when him and Sam where young,,."but remember after a certain point they don't break easy."

"Like, what was I going to do when she wanted things like swimming lessons?"

Dean was confused. "Okay, I can't see how something like that would be a particular problem, but I'll go with you."

"Closest thing I had to going down to the local Y was being chained to the bottom of the pool with a guy with a gun standing topside just to see how long I could hold my breath," Alec explained. "Not something I want to put my kid through."

Dean looked at Alec in disbelief. "That's twisted, man."

"Tell me about it."

Dean stood up. "Can we go get a beer? I'm freezing my ass off here."

"It's not that cold."

Dean peered over the edge. "Can we just say it's the cold? If I spend anymore time up here I'm gonna pee my pants, 'cause I don't mind heights, but this is too much."

"What a wuss."

"That's another thing I don't say: wuss. Bitch, jerk, ass, things like that, yeah, but not wuss."

"Well if your gonna be one I'm gonna call you on it."

Dean peered at Alec. "If you're gonna take part in the whole friendly insult throwing thing the Winchester brothers have going on, you're gonna have to learn."

"I'll take Sam's side."

"Supersoldier or not, I can still take you and geekboy with one hand behind my back."

Alec smiled at the challenge. "Just try it."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer - See previous chapters

And now after the angst time for some random fluff and a little plot development!

* * *

Sam and Jo followed the exuberant Joshua as he bounded into the back room of Crash; the one used by various transgenics and hunters when they wanted to have a private drink, away from the more normal crowds.

They found John sitting at the bar. He and Cindy were silently watching Dean and Alec prowl around the pool table, the two men trying to work out where they fitted in each others lives.

"They all right?" Sam asked.

John shrugged. "They should be."

Cindy handed Sam and Jo a beer. "Let's see who whips who first."

"So, this ain't over yet?" Jo asked.

Cindy just smiled at her as she picked a bowl of pretzels and headed over to the pool table. "Sugar, when is it ever over with the three-legged race?"

As Jo followed her to where Joshua and some other transhumans were sitting, Sam sat beside his father.

"Is Ellen looking after Aimee?" John asked.

"Yeah, Molly's parking the car. She said she'd be here in a few minutes," Sam said, taking a mouthful of beer.

John nodded. "Ellen's been missing Aimee something fierce all this week. Look, Sam, I'm sorry we didn't tell you guys about her, but they didn't want you guys to know."

"Until they were sure who we were?" Sam said. "Dad, I get it, she's their kid; they needed to be sure about us. Weird to think of you as a Grandpa, though."

"Sam, I'm getting used to you being alive."

"Same could be said for me!"

"You sure you remember how you play this game?" Alec asked as Dean racked up the table.

Dean nodded. "Sure I can handle it."

"Now, if you get into trouble please feel free to ask," Alec said, grinning. "Just hit the white ball first okay!"

Logan placed Max's beer on the table as she settled down to watch the game. "Have I missed anything?"

Max shook her head. "Not yet."

"This should be good," Sketchy said as he sat down between them.

Logan took a look over at Max. "They've got to work it out for themselves, Max."

Sketchy looked over his friend. "Alec can look after himself, you know."

"Yeah, 'course he can," Logan replied. "And if he needs us, he knows we're here."

Max nodded as she watched both of them take turns round the table.

* * *

Four pitchers and many games later, Alec finally admitted defeat; Mole let a whoop out as he started collecting bets from the various patrons of the bar.

"Why do I feel like I've been bitch-slapped?"

Dean smiled. "Look, dude, don't feel too bad; think of it as contributing to the Molly Winchester car fund."

"You planning to get her a new car?" Max asked.

"Just get her a replacement," Dean replied.

"Rearrange this into a well known phase, Dean, '_Hell when over freezes_'. That is when I give her up, and I have it on good authority that that ain't gonna happen anytime soon," Molly said as she got up from the table she had been seated at.

"Stubborn, ain't she?" Dean said as he pocketed his winnings.

Logan nodded. "You could say that."

Alec shrugged, "She's nice to me."

Dean watched as Molly headed towards the bar. "I must have had a real impact on her."

"What?" Alec and Logan asked.

"I was Molly's first lunch date."

Max raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"She never told me that," Alec said.

Dean nodded. "Yeah, well, she was only three."

"You must have made a huge impact then," Alec said sarcastically.

"Of course, me and little Molly got through the best Chocolate Cream pie I've ever had on the East Coast."

"Was this before or after you and your brother kidnapped her?" Logan asked.

Dean didn't know what to say. "It was before, and we really didn't kidnap her. We just thought it was for the best."

"So it was an act of mercy - the bundling me up and taking me away from everything I knew?" Molly asked as she came back with another pitcher of beer.

"The fire trucks came, and the cops, they all said that you were dead so Sammy was convinced that they wouldn't take care of you., We thought we'd find someone who could."

"That's why you took me to Ellen?"

Dean nodded his response. "I suppose that worked out for the best."

"I know I look like her; there are some pictures of her, and I think my dad, on that computer. But you actually met her, so what was she like?"

"Amelia?" Dean asked and Molly nodded, all of them looked at him. "Well, I only met her at the coffee shop and most of that I spent with you. But she seemed like a real lady."

"So, Sam spent more time with her?"

Dean swallowed, technically he wasn't chickening out, he'd told her the truth - he hadn't spent that much time with the woman. But he wasn't about to tell the girl that her mother spent the last afternoon of her life going NC17 with his brother, especially seeing how they had an audience. "You could say that."

* * *

Jo stifled a laugh as Sam made an appearance the next morning. "You look like shit, man."

Sam let out a grunt as he sat down at the table across from his brother who was suffering in a similar manner. He just peered into the coffee cup that his father put down before him, but he almost turned a bright shade of green at the bacon and eggs Ellen laid at his place.

Jo smiled as she got up from the table; she was feeling fine that morning, though she hadn't been forced to match Mole drink for drink.

"You know that they are built to cope with toxins, including alcohol?" John said, smiling at his sons' condition.

"Now, I do," moaned Dean.

"Hope you two are going to be all right for the tour this afternoon?" Jo asked.

Sam held his head in his hands. "What tour?"

"Of Terminal City, the one that Max insisted we take after you told her of that wonderful idea of yours," Jo replied.

Sam thought for a second; he remembered something about Max laughing her head off when he said about the possibility of the three of them hiding within the transgenic community until they felt surer of their surroundings.

John smiled at the lack of response from both his boys. "You guys could stay here and help set up for the kids tomorrow."

Dean turned his head to look at his father, not needing to say a word to give an answer to his father's request.

"If you're going, you'll need to get there early then as you'll need your shots," Ellen said.

Jo looked at her mother. "Max said something about biohazards."

"Shots? What shots?" Dean asked.

* * *

"Is my ass going to be black and blue from this?" Dean asked as he sat in the medical tent outside Terminal city.

"Dean, they're just shots, okay, nothing sinister," Sam replied as the female arctic unit took his blood pressure.

Dean turned to his brother. "Look, I just want to know if I really have to drop my pants here."

"If you do, just think of it as taking one for the team."

"I just don't want to show my butt in public if I don't have to!"

Both Sam and Jo turned to look at Dean

"When the hell have you needed a reason to show your bare ass to anyone, dude?" Sam asked incredulously.

"No one is going to be comparing yours to anyone else's here!"

Sam sighed. "Just because that girl made that 'twin crack' to you last night doesn't mean everyone is going to be comparing you to Alec."

"I thought every guy had a fantasy about twins?" Jo asked, sniggering.

Dean pouted. "Yeah, but not to be one of the twins involved!"

Jo just continued to snigger, thinking it best not to comment any further on the subject.

Sam shook his head. "They should be able to give you them in the arm if you ask."

"Oh, that's a shame, 'cause I always thought you had a nice ass," Jo said mockingly.

Dean smiled, deciding to play along. "Really? You do? As I haven't had much of a chance to work out since I got here."

Sam just rolled his eyes.

"You three sure you want to do this?" Alec asked as he entered the tent.

"Well, if we're going to stay best get an idea of what we're up against, because at some point you know what is going to happen," Dean said, anticipating any future mix up.

Alec shrugged. "Well, there is always the Canada option."

"Nope, I don't do the frozen North, and if you're as smart as you are supposed to be then you'd know that," Dean said, grinning.

Alec threw his head back in resignation. "Who told you?"

"Logan did," Jo replied. "Thought it was hilarious."

"What?" Sam asked, feeling a little left out.

"Nothing!" Alec said firmly, causing both Dean and Jo to laugh.

"Come on, guys, what?"

Dean reigned himself in for a second. "Turns out Alec is actually his middle name."

"No, it's not. It's my name!" Alec said in his defence.

"Turns out that Max named him cause of the way he likes to talk," Jo said, answering Sam's plea.

Sam burst out laughing. "Smart Aleck, she named you 'Smart Aleck'."

"And I was going to be on your side! For that I'm letting Ralph deal with you!" Alec said.

"Oh, come on, it could have been worse. I heard she did come up with a second choice!" Jo said as Alec walked out of the tent.

As they walked through the busy streets that made up the transgenic enclave of Terminal City, they saw some of the different flavours that made up Manitcore's creations. Alec went down a small corridor to a gym where a number of people were practicing hand to hand.

"Well, here we are."

"And that would be where, exactly?" Dean asked.

Alec whistled over to a young girl, before turning to his visitors, "Well, you want to see what it is like to be one of us, and seeing how most of us are made for combat, I thought here would be a good place to start."

"You called, boss?" asked the girl Alec had called over.

"Ralph, you want to take care of them for me?"

She started to practically bounce on the balls of her feet. "Sure, we need some fresh meat."

Alec just looked at the girl in his command. "Ralph, they're our guests, so none of the dirty stuff."

She looked at him dejectedly. "Sure."

"Ralph, I'm serious. If not, you're cleaning up your own puke."

She nodded before returning to her friends.

"She's a kid!" Dean said, insulted.

"Ralph, she's an X-6, trained since the day she was born, and she's a demon when it comes to hand to hand."

Jo looked over at the girl. "Ralph's a guy's name?"

Alec shrugged. "She can't handle the sight of blood."

"Oh, you didn't!" Sam said. "You didn't name her 'cause she puked?"

"Not my fault she liked it."

* * *

Sam and Dean sat there as the two of them watched Jo being put through some steps.

"What's happening, dude?"

Dean looked at his brother. "Don't know what you mean."

"You and Jo?"

"What about me and Jo?"

Ralph showed Jo a simple blocking move.

"She's crushing on you again." Sam stated.

"Look, I can't tell the girl how to feel can I?" Dean replied. "It's not my fault that the women in her family find the men in ours irresistible."

Sam shook his head. "If you aren't going to do anything, don't encourage her."

"How am I encouraging her?" Dean asked. "It's not like I can stop spending time with her right now; you and her are the only two people I talk to without feeling like I'm stuck in a time warp or something."

"Just talk to the girl, make it clear if you're interested or not."

"Wouldn't matter if I was interested, not that I'm saying I am. But if I was, Ellen would skin me alive, especially seeing how she's now our evil stepmother," Dean said before trying to change the subject. "Anyway, what are you going to tell Molly?"

"I have no idea, the truth I suppose. That me and her mother were adults and if she hadn't died I…"

"Would have liked to have seen her again?" Dean asked. His brother nodded.

"Yeah, she's going to freak, but there is no way out of it."

Dean sighed. "Speaking of freak outs?"

"What?" Sam was confused.

"Nothing, bro, just waiting, that's all."

Soon it was Dean's turn, and as Sam watched on, a small figure skimmed the edge of room careful not to get in the way of the others.

"You Winchester?" it asked as it put a hand on Sam's shoulder.

"Jesus!" Sam said, almost falling off the bench he had been sitting on.

"You Winchester?" it asked again.

"Huh, yes?" Sam answered.

It grabbed his arm. "Good, you come, please come."

Sam followed the deformed transgenic through a couple of ruined buildings and a number of corridors down to a large room where people were packing mats and blankets. Others started to light candles that had obviously been put out while the room had been otherwise occupied.

"Children going now, soon back to normal."

The being took a couple of steps away from Sam and started to whirl round. "Me Serling, Mr Serling, I tend to them."

The dim candlelight caused the markings on the walls to become clearer, making the barcodes begin to dance.

"This is the veterans' hall, isn't it?" Sam asked.

"Yes, it is. The children were here but now they go. I can look after them again."

"Right," Sam said, not sure why he was there. "Wait a minute, your name is Serling as in Rod Serling, and you're the crypt keeper?"

It nodded. "Yes, Dix thought name appropriate."

Serling grabbed Sam's hand pulling him towards a wall. "Here, you see brother."

"This is his code?" Sam asked

"Yes 493 his code, 09'er, was traitor, but we're free now, so no more traitor. Him Ben now, just Ben, even though he done bad, not always bad though."

Sam felt the rough wall, he hadn't discussed it with Dean and when he'd asked John about it, he had just said that there had been another one, and he was dead.

"You know?" Sam asked.

Serling nodded. "Yes, know why Max and others avoid. They think I don't, but I do. But you special, you see him though you never met, maybe you see him when not bad?" he added hopefully. "Then you can remember him when he was good?"

"How did you know about that?"

"Hear Alec and others talking, worried about you and your brother."

Sam looked intently at the deformed man in front of him. "What did they say?"

"Alec say if he no turn then no reason to think you or your brother would. Ben sickness not genetic, Psy-Ops show that. Max and Logan agree, say that what they found was bad, but if they looked at theirs it would also be bad."

"What did they find?" Sam asked, finding himself still touching the wall.

"Parts of old police files. Pulse destroy lot of information, but Eyes Only found bits and pieces. They decide to trust you as long as you not hurt family."

Sam nodded; he couldn't blame them for checking up on them. They probably started looking into his and Dean's past when their father first turned up in Seattle.

"You remember him, he may be bad but he should have someone to remember him. They all deserve someone. Maybe you bring brother down here too?"

Sam nodded; there wasn't much he could say. "Maybe."

Serling flashed him a toothless grin.

"What is going on?" Max asked as she stood in the doorway.

Sam quickly pulled his hand back as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Serling suddenly found that he had to be somewhere else.

"Nothing, just getting a tour." Sam stuck his hands in his pockets.

Max looked at him. "Where are the others?"

"Last time I saw them Dean was being thrown about by a girl."

Max smiled. "Ralph denting his ego?"

"I think it's big enough to handle it, could use the downsizing." Sam looked over his shoulder at the other doorway. "I'd best get back."

"Sure."

As Sam turned to go she called out, "It was that place, it broke him; he couldn't handle outside, he asked me to… He just couldn't go back."

Sam stopped and looked at her, unsure what to make of her confession as she quickly left.

* * *

"Where the hell did you go?" Dean asked as Sam returned to the small gym.

"Just having a look around. You finished?" Sam asked.

Jo nodded. "Yeah, it was fun."

Sam turned to both of them. "Guys, what's heat?"

"What?"

"This girl just turned round to me and said I should come back when it was time for heat?"

Dean shrugged. "Was she cute?"

"Dude."

Ralph and a couple of other girls burst into laughter.

"Guys, what did you do?" Jo asked.

"I have no idea," the confused Dean replied.

Mole put a weight on his paperwork to stop it from being disturbed by his little fan heater. "You better get in there, princess, she's got a stick up her butt about something."

Alec put down his coffee and rubbed his tired eyes. "Any idea about what?"

"When do we ever?" Dix asked.

"I need to get a raise," he said as he started towards her office.

Dix looked at him. "You'd have to be getting paid first."

Max looked across at the deserted office block that made up the majority of the view from the window of the little office she used; she didn't say a word when she heard the knock at the door. It wasn't as if she didn't know who it would be.

"Maxie, you okay?" The voice came through the door.

After a few seconds, he called again, "Max, is it safe to come in, or are you PMSing?"

He carefully opened the door. "Max, if you're in that happy place, you should really lock the door. But I keep telling you that idea you've got with me and Logan ain't going to happen. I'd be picking pips out of places that they should never go for weeks!"

She didn't turn round. "Serling took Sam to the hall."

Alec exhaled loudly; he could guess what the nomlie had done. It wasn't like he ever visited Ben's code, he'd never met the guy; he had enough people to remember as it was, people he did consider family, even if they didn't share DNA.

"You okay with that?"

She still faced the window but gave a little shrug. "If they are who you all think they are he's their brother too."

He walked around the desk and pulled her into his shoulder, she didn't fight him. He hated it when she didn't. She wasn't his Max when the fight left her, and he'd be damned if he'd let anyone see her like this.

* * *

The main avenue was busy with various people coming and going their business, they followed Zero; Dean grabbed Jo as three small figures blurred past her. Another came running out of a doorway, moving quickly to catch her friends, they jumped effortlessly over a large pile of rubble.

"God, they move fast," Jo said, steadying herself.

Zero shook his head. "Not really, they get faster as they get older."

"Is Aimee going to be able to do that?" Dean asked.

Zero shrugged. "Little Mole? Probably not, she's half ordinary, but Joshua says the kid can move when she wants to."

As they got to a doorway to a kitchen they could hear yelling. "Luke, for the last time NO! It is not happening."

"But Evie said I look good."

"I don't care. You are not coming in that get up. It is the first party my daughter is going to outside these walls, and I am not having you terrify everyone."

Sam peered inside to see the girl who had been at the house the first day they had got there arguing with something he could barely describe.

"Luke, you know I'm not trying to hurt you, but you look like Ronald MacDonald's Ukrainian cousin. The one who use to work at that place… oh yeah, '_Chernobyl_'"

"But, please." Luke began to cry.

"No, don't, Luke!" Gem grabbed a cloth and handed it to the upset ditch digger.

The overall effect of the tears mixed with the make up he had on made it look as if Luke's face was melting, causing Sam's nervousness around clowns go up by five or six notches.

Gem tried to comfort the poor nomlie. "It's just, there are going to be a couple of ordinary kids there, they're not used to you."

"I'm not scary." Luke turned round to look at Sam. "He's ordinary, let's ask him."

Sam could swear he could hear his brother laughing outside as both the girl and the strange creature waited for him to answer. "It might be a bit much?" he said tentatively.

Gem nodded. "See, it's just too much. We're not saying you can't come, Evie wants you to be there… you just don't have to come dressed up."

Luke used the cloth to dry his eyes and proceeded to pull the red curly wig from his head. "But I can still juggle."

Gem sighed. "No one said you couldn't, it was the clown suit we were all saying had to go."

Luke nodded. "All right then."

Gem turned to Sam after Luke had gone. "Thanks for that."

"It's okay," Sam replied, not exactly sure what he had done. "I think we've met already."

Gem blushed, embarrassed about the way she had sent him flying to the floor. "Sorry, yeah, not the best first impression, I'm Gem."

Sam nodded as Jo came inside. "I'm Sam, and this is Jo."

"Yeah, I know; you guys here for the food then?"

"Think so," Jo said as Dean came inside.

Gem looked at him for a split second, before looking disappointed. "Sorry, I was hoping to see Alec."

"Right." Dean got the feeling that this was going to happen a lot.

"It's just I need to have words with him about promising my daughter things when I tell her no."

"Have a word with who?" Alec asked, sticking his head around the door, but seeing the look on her face he quickly ducked out of the way again.

"Alec, get back here!" Gem yelled.

* * *

He got off the chair as he finally finished putting up the last set of streamers. "Remind me how the hell we got talked into this."

"'Cause you've become a soft hearted fool in your old age, when it comes to those kids," Ellen said.

"Soft hearted?" John protested half-heartedly causing Ellen to shake her head at him. "Okay, I suppose you've got me."

"And I just wanted to get this house finished."

"I would have gotten around to it."

"Sure you would have, but now you don't have to, isn't anything to do with the fact you said yes."

He shrugged his response. No one was against Eve having a belated birthday party; it was just the fact that it had taken some scheming on the part of the small child to get one. It wasn't much to ask, all she wanted was a little get together, but the fact that she had been born on the same day as Freak Nation meant that every year the drawbridge went up and everyone held their breath waiting for a symbolic attack against Terminal City.

But now, after playing her mother off against her Uncle, she was going to get the best present the five year old could ask for: a little party with balloons and streamers in an honest to God backyard. She had cornered Alec in the armoury, asking about possible security problems of her and her friends going to her adopted grandparents' house as her mother had said there might be. When he hadn't exactly said no to the idea, she had quickly spread the word through the younger ranks of the transgenic community, causing what seemed to be almost every child capable of speech to ask their parents about going to a party.

John thought for a second before walking up behind his wife.

"What are you doing?" Ellen asked as she felt him brush the hair from her neck.

He put an arm round her waist. "Nothing."

"Doesn't feel like nothing." She smiled as she leaned into him.

"We've got the place to ourselves; haven't had that in a while. Don't know when the kids will be back."

Ellen turned around to face him. "They're not exactly kids."

* * *

"So, you've got to organise this place?" Jo asked as she pulled a plate of pastries out of the van.

Alec shook his head. "Nah, just have to defend it."

As he opened the front door of the house he stopped, quickly turned round, and closed the door. "We're going somewhere else: Molly's, Cindy's or even Logan's."

"Why?" Sam said.

Alec got back into the van he had borrowed. "We're going somewhere else, anywhere else!"

"But we've got…" A grin bloomed over Dean's face. "Well, well, well, Dad, you sly dog."

Jo stared at them for a second. "Oh, that is gross; that is just gross!"

* * *

Molly opened the door to find Alec holding a plate of food, with the other three behind him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Need a place to dump this stuff," he said, passing her.

Molly closed the door. "Wouldn't that stuff be better at Mom and Dad's?"

"Yeah, funny story that." Alec, trying not to dwell on what he had heard, walked over to Aimee who was sitting on the floor playing with her toys, picked her up and swung her about his head. "Hey, sweetie!"

Sam coughed. "They needed some personal time."

Molly smiled. "Okay then."

Dean burst out laughing.

"Dean, it's not funny," Sam said.

"Hell, yeah, it is. Every kid's worse nightmare is almost walking in on their folks; we're just getting it a little late, that's all."

Sam and Jo looked at him.

"Oh, come on Sam, how many times did we use to say that Dad needed to get laid, and now you're complaining that he is?"

"That is my mother you're talking about!" Jo replied, "And they're old."

Molly looked at them. "Isn't that supposed to be my line? I had to grow up with both of them."

Jo turned to her. "I'm about at a point where I can accept they are together, but no way in hell am I ready to accept that they're… you know."

"Well, I think it's a little late to sit them down to have the talk," Alec said, sitting with his daughter on his lap as the little girl played with her toys.

Molly's apartment was modest; she had various bits of paper and book scattered across the floor from the work that their arrival had disturbed.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Research," she answered sarcastically as she started to tidy things up.

He picked up a couple of pages of her work, looking at her notes. "I can see that, but what type of research?"

She shrugged. "You know, the usual; Amelia had a lot of stuff - I'm having another crack at it."

"You're still going after the name?" Dean asked.

Molly nodded. "Well, it seemed a place to start. Didn't have much to go on, haven't had a real physical trail since about 2007, but had Dad's and Sam's notes as well as the stuff on the laptop."

"Why? It hasn't been seen for years," Alec said, casually pushing some paper out of Aimee's reach. He stopped, picking up a picture. "What's this?"

She made a grab for the paper in his hand. "None of your business."

"Satellite pictures, Moll?" Alec just looked at her.

Sam tilted his head to get a look. "Weather patterns."

Aimee looked up at her daddy; he had his annoyed look on his face. "Logan give you these?"

"Yes, I asked, okay? I would have done it myself, but hacking into a military weather satellite clashed with mommy and me class," Molly said as Alec handed over her work, "And don't say that you would have gone, I'm not letting you loose in that place again."

"Hey. I didn't do anything!" Alec protested, "Those women are nuts, you know that don't you?"

"Sure Alec, you didn't do anything." Molly chided, "You and single moms don't mix."

"Why is it that I just have to say hello and everybody assumes I'm cruising for a hook up?" Alec asked.

"Maybe because I know you Alec," Molly said as Sam, Dean and Jo watched on, Molly continued, "So what if I asked Logan if he had the time."

Alec peered at her, "And he was more than willing to lend a hand?"

"He likes to help, and it's nice to get an outsider's view on this stuff occasionally."

Alec took a breath "And let me guess, you're doing him a favor in return?"

"It's just checking a few names, okay? Make sure that he's got his facts straight on things, like he does for me. It's not like I go out and run 'errands' like you do, is it?" Molly replied.

"I don't run errands," Alec replied.

"No, Max does, you just going running after her," Molly retorted. "Then you come back home with holes in you."

"Can we not go into this again?"

Sam looked at the two of them, whatever it was the two of them were arguing about, it seemed to be a long running thing. "You're tracking it, aren't you?"

She looked down at the little girl and then over at Sam. "They say that forewarned is forearmed."

"It hasn't been seen in years, and we had all the craziness when she was six months old and nothing happened," Alec said.

"You're probably right." Molly nodded, heading for the kitchen.

"She's worried," Jo said, deciding to follow her.

Both Sam and Dean nodded. "Can't say I blame her." Sam said.

Alec looked at them. "Why? There is no sign of it coming back."

Dean looked at his double. "We came back, didn't we?"

"It took her mom, Alec, and genetically speaking yours as well," Sam said.

Dean nodded. "Aimee ain't just a Winchester 'cause Dad raised Molly."

Alec pulled his little girl closer towards him. "No-one and nothing is taking Aimee. She isn't losing anyone either." He lowered his tone so not to frighten the child. "And God help anything that tries to."

* * *

The kids ran up and down the backyard the next day; Dean spent most of his time hiding from the gaggle that seemed to find it fun to follow his every move. As for Sam, he had become a victim of some of the older children's new game of 'let's fell the tallest ordinary'. This meant that he, Logan and Normal had them spinning around them.

"Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves," Max said, putting down a piece of cake.

Molly nodded. "Yeah, even Jo."

Max shook her head. "Can't believe Dean dumped Sketchy on her."

"Well, Sketchy was trying to get away from the kids and he wanted hunting stories; she's probably heard more than the rest of us put together."

"I can't believe he almost fell over Martin."

"How was Dean meant to know that the kid was chameleonic?"

"I think the moving blob with the baseball cap next to the picnic table would have given him an idea that something wasn't right."

"Still think getting him a T-shirt with '_I'm here!_' on it would be a good idea until he learns to control it."

Max laughed. "And I thought that this might be a bad idea."

"Oh, and the fact that you have three spotters on the roofs might be the reason that you are actually relaxed?" Molly said, taking a drink.

"He trained you too well."

"Well, what else was I suppose to do? Mom wouldn't let me work in the bar until I was old enough," Molly replied. "Max, can you promise me something?"

"Sure."

"That you'll help Alec with Aimee if anything happens to me."

Max looked at her friend in disbelief. "What?"

"If anything happens to me, can you help him with her?"

"Where the hell did this come from?" Max didn't know what to say, what the hell would she do with a kid? "What about John and Ellen?"

"Max, please, I love my folks, but she's a handful now, God alone knows what she'll be like when she's older," Molly replied. "Look, I just want to make sure that if the worst happens that he'll have someone he can trust. He'll need you."

"Is this because of them?" Max asked, cocking her head in Sam's direction.

"Kind of; I just want to make sure that she's taken care of."

"I'm not taking your kid."

"I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to be there for them," Molly said smiling. "Just think of it as humoring me."

She didn't know what to say, Molly wasn't really one for dramatics. "Okay, I'll promise, but you aren't going anywhere. You hearing me?"

"Not planning on it." Molly turned to watch the party again. "Anyway, what do you think?"

"They're okay, I suppose."

"You suppose?"

Max just shrugged.

Molly looked over at Sam and Dean for a second, a mischievous look in her eye. "You want to go mess with them?"

Max smiled. "What you got?"

Sam sat quietly, getting some peace; Normal had done an impression of Linda Blair after four X series children had spent five minutes blurring round him. This had unfortunately marked him out as the victim of any other games. Dean had lost his little group of followers and had settled by his brother. The girls sat down beside them; they chatted casually, discussing the day, how they were getting on in Seattle.

Molly waited for the right moment before asking, "So, which one of you two slept with my mother?"

Sam almost choked on his drink, Dean sprung up and headed off. "See you later, bro!"

Sam found himself under the uncomfortable glare of both Molly and Max. "Ehm, well, I… Amelia and I…"

Max burst out laughing, causing Sam to look between the two women.

He turned to Molly. "You knew?"

Molly sat there grinning. "Sure I knew; wasn't sure which one of the two of you it was, but I knew."

"How?" Sam was confused.

"Ash found her journal on that laptop."

Sam turned a bright shade of red. "What?"

"It didn't go into details, just that her 'to do' list for that day was half done, and something about calling some guy for coffee?" Molly replied as Sam swallowed.

Max smirked. "Understand that she didn't want to meet you near her office?"

Sam buried his head in his hands. "Oh God!"

Both women laughed.

Dean yelled. "Sam, help! I think I've just made the Abominable Snowman's kid cry!"

Max looked over, shaking her head. "I'll save him."

As Max left, Sam turned to his other companion. "Look… you fine with, you know?"

Molly nodded. "Not much I can do about it now, and don't worry, Mom and Dad don't know. Ash sat me down and told me what he found when I first started to ask about reading her stuff."

"I only knew her for a day but she was something, and if it hadn't gone down the way it did, I would have liked to see her again." Sam took a breath. "I'm sorry I couldn't save her."

"You got me out, thanks for that," Molly replied. "Though, I have got to admit I think I'm happier that it was you 'cause of… you know."

Sam knotted his brow as he got around her reasoning. "We okay?"

"Yeah, it was just that one time wasn't it?" she asked, to which he nodded.

She sighed. "Thank God for that."

* * *

"God, they make a mess!" Alec said, bringing more plates into the kitchen.

"What do you expect from the under tens?" Ellen asked, tidying up.

Sam stood there for a second. "You know, I think this is the first kid's party I've ever been to."

Alec nodded. "Yeah, me too. Got to admit it was fun."

"What? Spending time with your mental equals?" Max asked.

"Oh, come on, Maxie. Admit it, you actually enjoyed yourself."

Dean came in holding a small child upside down. "Who does this one belong to?"

"That would be me!" Gem said, taking hold of her daughter. "Time to go, I think."

"Mommy, can't we stay? Please?" Eve asked.

"No, it's been a long day, so say goodbye to everyone!" Gem said to her daughter.

Eve pouted. "You should be nicer to me!"

"And why is that?"

The little girl put her hands on her hips. "Uncle Normal says I'm going to rule one day!"

Alec let out a chuckle. "And why does he say that?"

"'Cause I sound like Aunt Max." She looked up at her mother. "Mommy? What's a domineering Queen Bee?"

They all looked at the small child before turning to Max who hit Alec around the head before he could say a word.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer - Please see previous chapters

* * *

"Where the hell are they?" Sam asked as he looked out of the window. "They said they'd only be five minutes, they were only going to the store."

Jo tried to sound reassuring. "He probably got lost or distracted by something."

"Dean maybe, but Alec too?"

Jo looked at him. "If it was leggy and in a low-cut top I think it could distract the two of them."

* * *

"You have the right to remain silent, but anything you do say can and will be taken down and used in evidence against you," the cop said, cuffing Dean as his partner put Alec in the car.

"Can I ask what the hell we've supposed to have done?" Dean asked as he was spun around.

"You know what the hell you've supposed to have done, you tranny filth!" the overweight cop who forced Dean into the back of the cruiser spat out.

Alec sighed. "Look man, you know that you guys are technically not supposed to use that term in a derogatory manner anymore. The transgender lot won't be happy about it."

Dean looked at his counterpart as the car door slammed behind him. "What?"

Alec ignored him and continued to talk the other cop, who was sitting in the front waiting for his partner to get into the car. "Man, the transsexual community have worked long and hard to reclaim that term and personally I think, 'good for them'. They've been around longer than us, so I got no problems with them using it. I'm not one of them and they aren't us. That is, with the exception of Haley, of course."

"Haley?" Dean asked.

"Oh yeah, she's on the hormones so technically she's pre-op," Alec replied.

"You got a chick with a dick in that dump you all live in?" Dean asked, confused.

"It's not a dump – actually it is, but it's home."

"Some home."

"Better than what you've got. How is Pop's couch?"

Dean pursed his lips as he peered at Alec, "You didn't answer my question. Have you got a chick…"

"Never say that to her! Last person that did almost got the surgery himself. She's going to Brazil; heard that she had almost got the cash together."

"So, she's planning to go down, have the you know… and then go to see the carnival?" Dean asked. "They still got that?"

Alec nodded. "Oh yeah, went down there myself about ten years ago, me and some guys from my unit; completed the mission, had some R&R. It was a blast, man!"

"Really," Dean replied. "Always wanted to see if it was better than Mardi Gras."

"Never been to Mardi gras; New Orleans went all conservative after the pulse."

"Oh, don't tell me they stopped doing it?"

"'Fraid so, dude. After Katrina and then the pulse, city fathers got it into their heads that if they didn't change their ways, they were going to go the way of Sodom and Gomorrah. Miami cracked down on Spring Break, too."

Dean looked upset. "Man, I loved those!"

The cop in the passenger's seat hit the grill that separated them with his nightstick. "Shut up!"

Dean looked at the two cops in front. "You haven't told us what you're pulling us in for."

"You know fine well: murder one."

Dean looked shocked. "What?"

Alec slumped in his seat. "Let me guess: eleven counts?"

Dean and the cops looked at him, and from the look on Dean's face, Dean was going to kill him.

Alec smiled innocently. "Don't suppose it would help if I said it wasn't us?"

* * *

As they were led into separate interrogation rooms, Dean glowered at Alec. He had begun to trust the guy; they had all said he was okay. Sam said, 'let's hide here and no-one will be after us', and now he was being dragged in for another murder he hadn't committed.

He sat down at the table as the tall detective came into the room. "So, what do they call you, or do you not have a name yet?"

"Excuse me?" Dean asked.

* * *

_Interrogation Room 1_

Alec sat at the table looking at the chains that he found himself in as the door opened. "Are we going to do this the hard or easy way?" Agent Henricksen asked.

Alec smiled. "Well, depends on what you mean by easy or hard."

* * *

_Interrogation Room 2_

"So, I'm guessing that you're not open to getting me some chilli fries, then?" Dean asked, grinning, as Clemente sat down.

"You may think that you can keep your mouth shut and this will go away, but 494's wrong this time. The Feds are now involved."

"That's nice, but can you tell me what this is supposed to be about?"

* * *

_Interrogation Room 1_

"Are you going to confess, or are we going to go through the usual shit?" Henricksen asked, looking through the file in front of him.

"You're new here, so I'll cut you some slack and tell you how it goes," Alec said, leaning forward. "You drag the Ryan family in here or whoever you have to ID me. By the way, can't you leave them alone to grieve?"

Henricksen opened his mouth to say something, but Alec beat him to it.

"You say you have DNA. I say, 'That's nice. By the way, did you know that they twinned us and that I have an alibi that I can't confirm due to the government treaty that they made us sign?' You say, 'Fine, tell us who did it'. I say, 'He's dead, but I don't know what they did with the body'. You say, 'Right,' and leave me to stew. At that point you get the shrink in, who tells you that that the whole barcode thing was me just killing myself over and over again. I say, 'Great, that proves it wasn't me as I'm not 493,' and at that point I bust out, sit myself down in said shrink's office, and we all wait for my barcode to appear."

Henricksen didn't like the interruption. "You've done this before?"

"Once or twice."

"So, if it wasn't you, what about the other one?"

Alec shook his head. "He's not 493 either."

"Is he 492 or 495?"

At that point Alec started to bang his head against the table.

* * *

_Interrogation Room 2_

Dean looked at the pictures Clemente had put down in front of him. "And you think that I did this?"

"Well, did you?"

Dean let out a laugh. "Have you got the wrong man!"

"We're waiting for a court order for your DNA, but as you know, there is little point in waiting for it. But, if it wasn't you, can you tell us where you were at these times?"

Dean looked up at the cop. "Trust me, dude, you'd never believe it if I told you."

* * *

_Interrogation Room 1_

"Right, are you going to talk to me?" Henricksen asked. "If you didn't do this, how do you know he didn't?"

"Dean?" Alec asked. "Well, he's a long story."

"Dean?" Henricksen, "Did he give himself that name, or did he get it somewhere else?"

* * *

_Interrogation Room 2_

Dean sat there, looking at the pictures. Pictures of bodies, bodies of men with their teeth removed. He almost didn't notice the door opening, only casually glancing upwards at the disturbance, before doing a double take at the face from the past that had come walking through the door.

"Holy Jesus, time hasn't been kind to you has it?" Dean said, smirking on seeing Special Agent Victor Henricksen.

"Take it you're Dean? How did you get that name?"

Clemente looked up at the FBI agent, frowning.

Dean sighed. "Well, I don't know. Dad said it was Mom, but you never know, could have been a Michael or Glenn; you know, if I was a girl I could have been a Simone."

"Funny, real funny," Henricksen said, pulling up a chair. "What do you know about Dean Winchester?"

Dean smiled. "What do you know?"

"He disappeared off the face of the planet about twenty years ago, along with his brother Sam."

"That must have been nice for them," Dean said, stifled a laugh, his ego getting a huge boost from the fact that Henricksen had been looking for him for the past twenty years.

"Do you want to hear a little theory I got?"

"Am I getting a bedtime story?" Dean asked. "I'll tell you though, I'm a little too big to get tucked in."

* * *

_Interrogation Room 1_

"Who is Dean Winchester?" Clemente asked Alec as he came into the other interrogation room.

"Who?" Alec asked, feigning innocence.

Clemente threw a couple of pictures of the murder scene in St Louis and the bank in Milwaukee onto the table. "These were taken in 2006 and 2007."

Alec studied the images."Well, I know I can be bit of a bad ass, but then I was, what, seven or eight? So, I think that's a little bit out of my league."

"Funny. He's wanted for them." Clemente passed Alec a grainy image of Dean taken from the news broadcast of the bank heist. "Armed robbery and murder."

'_Great, it is genetic, then!' _Alec thought as he looked at the picture. "You know, if you get the light right, he could be called handsome."

"Agent Henricksen got this idea. Do you want to hear it?"

"Sure, not going to stop you."

"Genetic memory; thinks that you guys are tapping into whatever this Dean Winchester was capable of."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Alec tapped his head. "The only shit that is going on in my noggin is my own!"

Clemente looked at him. "Can you say the same for the other one?"

Alec's expression remained neutral. "Do I get my phone call yet?"

* * *

Alec followed the guard down the holding cells. "I'm supposed to get a call, here."

As the door slammed in his face, he held his chained hands up to the guard. "Hey, I'm willing to try almost anything once, but these things are a little too tight for a guy to get into the flow, you know?"

Ignoring him, the guard left, and Alec turned to see Dean sitting in the cell next to his. The two of men moved to opposite ends of their cells, placing as much distance between each other as they possibly could.

Dean looked over Alec. "Teeth?"

Alec peered back. "St Louis?"

* * *

As Henricksen got off the phone, he found Clemente glowering at him. "You have got to be kidding."

Henricksen drew himself up to his full height. "What?"

"You're planning to move them without telling us."

"Florida wants to talk to them about the cases in Miami."

"Yeah, but they have rights."

Henricksen shook his head. "This could be seen as a National security risk; products of a government project going nuts and killing people."

"One of them, not both."

"They're not talking, and with the DNA evidence we got enough to say that it could be one of them."

"Or another one. They're serious about the twinning thing, and since they won't do that census we keep asking for, we've got no idea how many of them there could be."

"If it wasn't one of them, then they'll tell us where the other one is," Henricksen said, pulling together some of his papers.

"They probably don't know, or he is really dead. Christ, have you got such a hard on for this Dean Winchester that you'll risk sending this city into another siege?"

"They are suspects in a murder case. They want to be citizens, then they abide by the law, and that means they can't riot every time we pull one of them in."

"If you don't treat them like everyone else, they can," Clemente said, following the other man as he made to leave.

Henricksen stopped. "As I said, this can be seen as a threat to National Security; they don't pass go, they don't collect $200!"

Clemente clenched his jaw. "It doesn't matter. When they work out that you're going to try to move them, then they'll be out of here."

"No, they won't."

He grabbed Henricksen's arm. "What is that supposed to mean?"

* * *

Alec had almost gotten out of his restraints when the guards came in. Dean had to watch helplessly as six of them went into Alec's cell. Alec managed to pushed a couple of them off before the tranq dart hit.

"What the hell was that?" Dean asked as they came for him.

"Just a little something to help you relax for your journey," said the guard with the tranq gun, reloading. "Don't worry, we've got an antidote."

"Antidote, why would you need to have an antidote?" Dean asked, before the world went dark.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer - See previous chapters

Hope this is OK for people, please let me know if it isn't.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!

* * *

"If they are sitting in some bar somewhere, I'm going to smack him into next week." Max threw her jacket on the back of a chair as she blew into Logan's home. She had spent the past couple of hours hitting some of the usual places that Alec disappeared to.

The various little search parties had gotten there minutes before her.

Logan tried to be the voice of reason as they all grew more agitated. "It's only been a few hours, they could have just lost track of time."

Max scowled at him. "Don't say that he got distracted by something shiny!"

Logan turned around to his computer without saying a word.

"So, we've got no idea where they could be?" Sam asked.

Logan shook his head. "You've covered all the usual places?"

"Cindy says she'll call if she hears anything, same goes for Normal, but I don't want to know who he'll ask," Molly said.

John thought for a second, shoving his hands in his pockets. He hated asking this. "Is there any…" John swallowed, trying to get the words out, especially know that Alec would hate him for asking this, "Logan, can you…possibly…could you ask?"

Logan turned as John stopped mid sentence.

"Logan, is there any way you could use, you know?" Molly asked as her father bit his lip, not liking the feeling of helplessness that was washing over him. God, did he feel like a weak old man.

Logan sighed. "I don't know. Alec's taken off before without telling anyone."

John swallowed. "If it was just one of them then I wouldn't be asking, but both of them?"

Logan nodded. "Let me see what I can find out."

"What's he going do?" Jo asked Molly as they left to go home.

"He's going to see if he can get some of 'Eyes Only's' contacts to help."

"What? That guy that does the broadcasts on TV?"

Molly nodded.

"Do you think it will help?"

Molly shrugged.

* * *

"Oh God, are you sure?" Ellen asked the caller on the other end of the line. John took the phone from her as Sam and Jo stood, waiting for any news.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

Ellen took a breath. "He's heard something."

She glanced at her husband for a second; John was still on the phone though he did not say a word.

"That Eyes Only guy?" Jo asked.

Ellen nodded. Sam swallowed, not wanting to think the worst. "What is it, Ellen?"

"They picked them up. The police."

Jo was confused. "Why?"

"Ben. They picked them up 'cause of Ben."

"Who?" Jo asked. No-one answered her question.

"But they've got to know by now that they aren't him, right?" Sam asked as John put down the phone and went into the back room without a word.

Ellen shrugged. "Dean doesn't have any ID, thought they'd got lucky."

"If the cops have got them then can't we just bail them out?" Jo asked.

Ellen turned to see where John had gone. She muttered under her breath, "I knew it was too early to let Dean out of the house."

"Ellen, what's going on?" Sam asked.

Ellen turned back to them. "Feds wanted to move them, take them to Florida."

"They're off on vacation, then?" Jo asked, hoping to lighten the mood. "Trust Dean. He'll probably send us a postcard from Disneyland."

"They've disappeared," Ellen said, ignoring Jo.

"So, they'll be heading back here?" Sam said hopefully.

Ellen shook her head. "Transport turned up, took them. LoJack was found twenty miles outside the city. Feds think it was Terminal City that helped them, but it wasn't."

"How do they know they didn't get out by themselves?" asked Jo.

"They were unconscious when they moved them. Logan heard that they shot them up with some drug – something special for transgenics," Ellen explained.

Jo looked at her mother. "But Dean…"

Ellen crossed her arms. "I know. I got no idea what it'll do to him."

John passed by the group as he headed toward the door.

"John?" Ellen asked.

He didn't turn around. "Molly's at command already, rest have headed over to the last sighting."

"And where are you going?" Ellen asked her husband.

He bowed his head for a second. "I'm going to hunt down whoever took my boys. That is what I'm going to do."

Ellen turned to look at Sam, who had already picked up his jacket. "Dad, wait for me."

As the door closed, Jo turned to her mother. "If it isn't the cops that have them, then who?"

Ellen looked at her daughter. "Familiars."

* * *

They could see the group of transgenics milling around the rest stop, the last known sighting of the transport.

Max and Mole were studying a map, trying to decide on their next move, when John and Sam arrived. As the father and son pair walked over, the two transgenics straightened up. Max walked over to them, but instead of receiving an expected summary of the current situation, Sam found himself pinned up against the rest stop wall by an angry Max.

"Is this what the plan was? Divide us? Make the Feds come after us, while your boss takes his time getting what he wants out of Alec?"

"No!" Sam found that he was unable to push her off as she held him in place.

She pushed him a little harder into the wall. "Why don't I believe you? The cops know that Alec had nothing to do with those deaths! They wouldn't have picked them up if they hadn't thought they had a chance of closing the case, and for that you need to have two of them in the same place. So where has White taken him?"

"I've got no idea what you're talking about," Sam protested as he tried to struggle, "I don't know this White!"

Mole put his hand on Max's shoulder causing her to back down. She let Sam go.

Sam took a breath. "You think I'd still be here if this was some plan to get at you guys?"

Max didn't say anything, and Sam found himself protesting his innocence.

"Whatever you want to think, Dean is out there too. While you guys are all looking for Alec, what about him?"

Max didn't answer Sam's question, instead she turned to John. "You shouldn't be here."

He didn't back down from her glare. "Girl, I ain't going anywhere."

"You should be with Ellen. You're too close to this," Max stated.

"And you ain't?" John scowled. "I've been hunting down things that can't be found since before they let you out of your test tube, Max. Me and Sam, we're better trackers than half of the crew you got here. Close to this or not, you're the one who shouldn't be here."

Max looked at Sam. "So, you want to help?"

"I'm not leaving my brother out there. I'm not leaving either of my brothers out there," Sam replied. "Dad's right, you shouldn't be here, Max. You're their leader; you should be taking care of the rest of them."

Mole nodded. "He's right. If the Feds turn up, someone has to handle them, Max. Anyway, if White gets a hold of you, how the hell do you think that is going to make Alec feel when he comes skulking back home?"

Max took a second before heading off toward her Ninja; the others just watched her take off.

"Any sign?" John asked.

"Not yet." Mole shook his head. "White ain't stupid; he could have taken them anywhere."

"We'll find them," Sam said resolutely.

Mole started back toward the map he had been examining. "We'd better 'cause there ain't no way in hell that I am dealing with her if we don't."

* * *

"Clemente!" Logan yelled as he jogged over to the main door of the police headquarters.

The detective waited for him. "You heard anything?"

Logan shook his head. "You?"

"No."

"They wouldn't have been able to take them without a fight," Logan said, trying to coax more information out of the policeman. "Unless they weren't able to? There aren't many things that will knock out transgenic, but I don't suppose you have any idea about what could have done that to them?"

"What concern is this of yours?" Henrickson asked as he came out of the police station door to stand at Clemente's side. "Who are you anyway?"

Logan turned to face the older man. "I'm just a concerned citizen, and I don't want to find myself in the middle of a war zone."

As Logan turned to go, Henrickson looked at Clemente. "He's being melodramatic isn't he?"

"No he ain't," Clemente replied. Henrickson just looked at him causing Clemente to shake his head. "You really got no idea of what's going down here, do you?"

"A crime has been committed. Anyway, they're probably holed up in that rat's nest of theirs."

"You better hope that they are, but you ain't going in there, and no judge will give you a warrant to either."

"A federal one will," Henrickson stated.

"Tough shit. 'Cause warrant or not, we ain't going in there."

Henrickson couldn't believe what he was hearing. "They're suspects in eleven murder cases."

"That's no excuse to treat them like animals!" Clemente said angrily. "If you had been a little more understanding, they would have co-operated with you. But 'cause you got a grudge against a man who probably died twenty years ago, you got to send this city to the brink again."

"Florida wanted to talk to them," Henrickson said, justifying himself.

"Then, when the shit hits the fan, Florida will have to foot the bill 'cause we don't have the resources for another siege," Clemente said coldly. "We got a very fragile truce here; it won't take much to push them over the edge."

"If they are as well trained as you say, they won't do anything. It won't come to that."

"You sure?" Clemente asked. "As it is, you better pray that whatever the shit you gave them doesn't do long term damage, cos' if those highly trained transgenic soldiers get it into their heads that the government is experimenting with drugs specifically meant to control them, then a siege will be the last of our worries. They won't wait for anyone else to disappear, they'll attack first, and I wouldn't blame them one bit."

* * *

Jo sat there, watching her mother fuss round the house. She remembered how Ellen used to do the same thing when her dad was out on a hunt, how her mom scowled and snapped, waiting for news.

She also remembered how her mom's face lit up when Bill walked through the door covered in dirt and grime, how Ellen didn't care how he looked as long as he came home.

But, Jo could only imagine how her mother was feeling; it wasn't just her husband that Ellen was waiting for this time.

"I should be out there, too," Jo said to Joshua, who was sitting across from her at the table, as they watched Ellen continuing to busy herself.

Joshua shook his head. "No, we should be here."

"I can help," Jo protested. "I can track, I can fight. Christ, I can even make the coffee if they need it."

Joshua smiled. "Don't doubt you can, but you best here now. John and Sam track, Moll good at technical stuff, Ellen need us here."

"But I feel so useless."

"Jo not useless, Jo here for Ellen. She got no choice, she got to be here in case someone call; you here to protect her," Joshua reasoned.

Jo just looked at the large transhuman. "You met my mother, Joshua? She doesn't need protecting from anyone."

"Mole say that too." Joshua smiled. "But you going out there won't make other medium fella like you anymore than he already does."

"What?" Jo asked.

Joshua tilted his head. "You like other medium fella."

"Dean? Sure, he's my friend 'course I like him."

Joshua just looked at her causing her to protest, "I don't like him like that. Not anymore, anyway."

"He no ready for anything like you want; if you two get busy right now, that all it be."

"Great, I'm getting relationship advice from the canine version of Dr Ruth," Jo huffed.

Joshua just looked at her. "He no want to take care of anyone else. He need someone who able to take of self if need be, and you no ready for that."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jo asked, insulted.

"You not sure who you are yet, not sure where you fit," Joshua stated. "You think if you fit with him then you know who you are."

"No I don't!" Jo said, defending herself.

"Yes, you do. You like little fella use to be. She use to think that if she fix things with Logan then all be all right for her."

"What? I'm like a hard ass transgenic bitch?" Jo said, a little too harshly for Joshua's liking.

"Little fella not hard - soft and squidgy. Just hurt too deep at times, come out fighting, protect what she love," Joshua said. "You like she use to be, not sure who she is. She know now. May not always know who to be with, but she know who she is."

Jo peered at him. "And what is that, exactly?"

"She use to not be sure if she should be a solider, a traitor, thief, freedom fighter; should she be friend, leader or alone, transgenic, or just ordinary girl. Now she know she all those things, but she know she is more, she is Max. " Joshua held his head up proudly when he said that. "You got to work out who you are before you ready to try anything. When you work out who you are, maybe he want you then, but are you sure you will still want him?"

"You should charge by the hour, you know that?" Jo said, less than impressed at Joshua's assessment of her.

"Maybe if painting muse goes away, I will talk to Rita about it," Joshua replied. "But it got your mind off going out there."

"Great, I've been Jedi mind-tricked by fricking Rin Tin Tin!"

Joshua looked at Jo. "Who is Rin Tin Tin?"

* * *

Max paced like a caged animal around command as the others worked, co-ordinating search parties, strengthening the perimeter and generally shuffling paper.

"Will you calm down!" Dix said as Max peered over his shoulder for what seemed the hundredth time.

"I'm calm!" Max said through gritted teeth causing everyone to look at her. "What? I'm calm."

"Max, will you go get some rest?" Logan asked her. "We'll get you if we hear anything, I promise."

Max looked at him for a second, before turning to leave the room. Logan returned to his station, screening through the police footage of the transport.

Molly put a drink in front of him, though he didn't look at her. "I'm fine, Moll."

"Sure you are," she replied.

"She's just tired." He looked up at Molly. "Don't worry, we'll find them."

Molly went to sit back down by the police scanner. "Don't doubt it."

* * *

Max zipped up her jacket as she headed toward her bike. Tying her hair back as the rain started to come down.

"You shouldn't be doing that," John said, coming out of the shadows.

"How long have you been there?" Max asked. "Thought you'd still be out searching."

"Just back for some gas."

Max smirked. "No gas stations out there?"

John shook his head. "She's old, needs the good stuff to run. Not ready to risk her clapping out on me cause of some piss that someone is shifting as regular."

She got on her bike. "Right."

"You shouldn't be doing that," John reiterated. "It's about time you realized it ain't all about the two of you."

She snapped around to look at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Max, I love you like one of my own, but you should get your head out of your ass about this. If your kind is going to have a hope of surviving, you got to trust them. You got to remember that it isn't all about you and him. He knows that, why the hell don't you?"

"Why do you say that?"

John just continued. "This place can't stop 'cause Alec is missing, and it sure as hell can't stop because you decide that you don't trust anyone enough to look for him."

"I can't just sit here and wait."

"Tough, girl, that is what a CO does sometimes, and that is you. You got to trust them to do their jobs, trust them to do what needs to be done. If you don't, then one day something will happen and they won't know what to do as you ain't going to be there to tell them."

Max sat on her bike for a second, looking at the older man, before getting off it and turning back to the building.

"Max, one other thing," he said. She looked back at him.

"You go after Sam like that again, we won't be having such a nice little chat. The same can be said if anything happens to Jo."

She smirked at him. John would never be up for father of the year but he was miles ahead of the father figure Lydecker was. "Yes, sir."


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer - Please see earlier chapters

A/N this is getting rather long sorry; I've tried to write short and snappy but I can't

* * *

Dean woke with a jolt as the transport stopped. He found himself strapped to a gurney; Alec was unconscious and in a similar situation on the other side of the van.

Dean was able to get his hand into his jeans pocket, and he gave thanks to the ghosts of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (though he wasn't 100 sure if the two of them were dead or alive at that moment in time) that the cops had done such a bang up job of making sure he'd turned out everything from his pockets as he got hold of his emergency paper clip. He was about to start his attempt to get out of the restraints, when the back of the transport opened, and he was forced to fake unconsciousness as a man in a suit got in.

"You didn't have any trouble?" White asked one of the two attendants standing by the van door.

The attendant shook his head. "No, sir, thought we were the regular pickup."

"It worked like a charm, sir; the Feds swallowed the bait as soon as we passed them information that 494 was seen with an identical counterpart," the other one said. "Henricksen was very enthusiastic about using the drug you supplied him with. You were right about his obsession with the Winchester family, sir."

"It appears he has kept the paper copies of everything regarding their crimes from before the pulse," the first attendant added. "He was very easy to manipulate."

White smiled. "Good. You know what to do now?"

Both men nodded. "Yes, sir."

White looked over both Alec and Dean before turning to the other two men. "They didn't say where the other one came from?"

"No, sir, neither one was forthcoming with that information," one of the attendants answered.

White nodded. "Give them both the antidote when you're halfway there."

Both attendants looked at their superior. "Sir?"

"I don't want them swiss-cheesing their brains before we can get any information out of them. If the other one is 493, I want to know where he's been since the reports of his death. Anyway, if we have two of them, we'll have an extra test subject to experiment on," White said, getting out of the van. "You may have to sedate them again straight after giving it to them; research wasn't too clear on exactly what would happen after administering the antidote."

Both familiars nodded as they closed the van door leaving Dean to run through all the different scenarios leading off from what he had heard. They were not good.

* * *

It took Dean a little while to get out of the straps that held him down; he was a little groggy, but on the whole he felt fine. Though, he didn't like the idea of the swiss-cheesing of his brain that the guy in the expensive blues brother suit had mentioned.

He started to loosen the bindings that held Alec, but he was still unconscious when Dean felt the transport come to a halt.

The door opened and the large familiar got into the back. Dean brought down the bar from the gurney he had been strapped to on the back of the guy's head. The familiar went down hard. Dean picked up the small bag that the man had been carrying, as well as the gun.

"So, do you want chips or nachos?" the other attendant asked, getting back into the van after coming back from the gas station.

Dean smiled as he pointed the gun at his abductor. "I'll take both of them."

After tying up both of the familiars in the back of the van, Dean dragged Alec to one of the open cars on the gas station forecourt. A woman came running out, screaming, as Dean started the engine and drove off.

It was about ten miles down the road when the engine died. "Great. I have to take the one car that wasn't filled up yet, didn't I?"

Alec didn't respond as he lay slumped in the back seat. Dean opened the bag he had taken off the guy he had knocked out; it contained a couple of syringes, and a couple of vials of what must have been the antidote they had been talking about, along with a bottle of sedative – well, he thought that's what it was, seeing as how it was marked 'Pentobarbital'.

He looked at the unconscious Alec before taking a breath; he didn't like giving Alec a drug that could do God knows what to the guy, but seeing how Alec looked in a bad way, he didn't have much choice. Dean didn't think walking back into Seattle with Alec's corpse would bode well for him, let alone Sam and Jo, at this moment in time.

Alec went rigid, before going limp again, as Dean stuck him with the needle. Dean waited five minutes, anxiously watching Alec breathe, praying that he hadn't just killed the guy. Alec's breathing evened out, causing Dean to let out a sigh of relief.

He looked at the other vial for a few seconds, not sure if he should take it or not. Yeah, he felt fine, but how long would that last? Though, from what he could gather, the stuff he had been shot up with wasn't meant for 'ordinaries' like him, so maybe that was why he was still on his feet.

Dean pocketed the drug, deciding that he wasn't about to risk the two of them being unconscious right now. He could take it if he needed it, but right now, getting as far away from the gas station was the priority; hopefully they could find a house with a phone not too far away.

Dean pulled Alec out of the car. "You have got to go on a diet, dude!"

After a few steps, the heavens began to open, causing Dean to look up. "Oh, come on!"

* * *

Mole slowed the van down as he and Sam passed the gas station that had the large Seattle PD transport parked on the forecourt. A deputy was trying to calm down an agitated woman, as the sheriff was talking to the owner of the run down gas station, who was currently waving his arms around agitatedly.

Sam grinned as he saw the scene; he turned to Mole who had started to pull in. "So, you think they've been here?"

Mole sat, waiting, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as Sam came back to the van.

"They were here. Two others as well. Looks like they took off before the locals got here."

"What else?" Mole asked as he turned the key causing the engine to splutter into life.

"They took a car; its owner, well, she wasn't too happy about it. There was another thing: only one of them is conscious. The guy who owns this dump says one of them was dragging the other," Sam replied.

* * *

Dean stood watching the rain, rolling the vial of antidote in his palm. He still wasn't too sure what to do with it. He wasn't feeling any ill effects, but he didn't know how long that would last. Alec groaned as he started to come around in the run down outbuilding that Dean had found.

Dean crouched down, pocketing the vial, as Alec rubbed his neck.

"How long have I been out?" Alec asked.

Dean shrugged. "No idea, dude, I've been awake for a couple of hours, don't know how long both of us were out."

"Where are we?" Alec asked, trying to get to his feet.

"No idea. Just tried to get us as far away from the men in black who took us; thought we'd head back as soon as the weather eases up."

Alec looked at Dean, slightly confused. "Men in black?"

"Yeah, looks like the police rig got hijacked before we got out of Seattle. This guy in a suit seemed to be calling the shots. Knew who you were, and who this 493 was, too."

Alec clenched his jaw. "White!"

"Who?" Dean was confused.

"Familiar, high up in the cult."

Dean pouted. "Oh great, I'm stuck in your personal little war."

"He hates your kind as much as mine," Alec said, giving Dean a little grin.

"Great."

Alec started to blink; he could see the aura starting to form.

"Dude, you okay?" Dean asked, grabbing onto Alec, who had started to sway.

"I don't know," Alec replied, falling to his knees.

"Shit, I gave you what they had! Think it was the antidote they talked about."

Alec's eyes began to roll back in his head as the full seizure hit, and all Dean could do was hold him and try to stop him from swallowing his tongue.

* * *

Sam threw his jacket over the back of a chair as he and Mole got back into Terminal City. "No luck on your end?" Sam asked his father, who had pulled into the lot behind then in his pick–up, Bullet with him.

"No, rain's making it impossible to see anything out there," John said, slamming the pick-up door.

Sam yawned. "At least we know that they got away from them."

John nodded, not saying a word.

"John, if it's true about only one of them being on his feet, he'll take care of the other one," Mole said. "We can't do anything till morning as it is."

"You're right; we've been looking for 24 hours straight. Maybe we should get a couple of hours sleep then start again," John said, watching Sam rub his tired eyes.

* * *

Alec woke again; he'd been suffering small seizures all night long as Dean watched helplessly.

"You okay, dude?"

Alec blinked, his eyes beginning to focus on the face in front of his. "You bastard, you ruined my life!" he yelled as he launched himself at Dean, who barely got out of the way of an incoherent Alec as he ran full force into the wall of the shack, causing a couple of the wooden boards to come loose.

Alec turned, the impact seeming to have little to slow him, he took a step toward Dean. "Why can't you leave me alone? Wherever you go, I pay for it, and I've never even met you!"

Dean backed up as Alec started to circle him. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about!"

"You escape, they haul me into Psy-Ops; you stay away, they watch me like a hawk; you do what ever you want, and I get stuck with the bill! Who do you think got it in the neck back at base when you took up dentistry?" Alec spat out through gritted teeth.

"Dentist? I hate that dude," Dean said, waiting for Alec's next move.

"Why can't you stay dead, Ben? Why don't you go back to your blue lady?" Alec said, falling to his knees as another seizure hit.

He woke to find himself tied to a post, Dean sitting in front of him on an upturned bucket.

"You here this time?" Dean asked as Alec struggled a little. "You can try all you want, but you ain't getting out of those."

"Why?" Alec asked, his mouth feeling like he'd swallowed the Sahara desert.

"Those are to stop you from hurting yourself, and more importantly you hurting me," Dean said with a serious look on his face. "So, who's Ben, and who's this blue lady?"

"What happened in St Louis?" Alec countered.

Dean shrugged: suppose the guy did have the right to know he didn't come from completely fucked up genes. "Shape-shifter. Had my face on when we killed it."

Alec closed his eyes; the explanation was as good as any in the Winchester family. Hell, he was big enough to admit he used to be kind of like Max about the whole hunting thing; thought John's friends were a bunch of eccentrics with guns who happened to do some good now and then. Then. of course, he'd been hit full force with it himself.

"So, you going to spill?" Dean asked.

Alec swallowed. "Ben – 493 – was my twin."

"Twin? There was more than one of you guys?" Dean ran his hand through his hair. "Who the fuck do I sue for copyright infringement?"

Alec smiled. "They're all dead."

"So? What about this Ben?"

"He was whacked in the head; eleven deaths that we know of. Anyway, he's dead."

"He took teeth, huh?" Dean asked.

Alec nodded. "Done it for his blue lady, this 'religion' he made up"

Dean took a second, thinking of all the times Sam had woke up screaming about a blue lady and then watching him like a hawk for days afterward. "Take it you keep getting pulled in for it?"

Alec nodded, he took a breath. Anticipating another seizure, Dean moved to loosen the bindings, allowing Alec to get in a more comfortable position.

"I gave you what they had, man. Why isn't it hitting me the same way?" Dean asked as Alec came out of it.

"Serotonin," Alec said, panting. "Your brain can regulate it properly, mine can't. Think that shit stripped the tryptophan out my system – without it, I'm screwed."

"Anything I can do?" Dean asked, concerned.

"Need my meds," Alec said, causing Dean to go through the other man's pockets, when he found nothing he shook his head.

"Sorry, man, they must have taken it off you. Paper clip they leave, life saving pills they take," Dean said jokingly. "Anyway, what piss poor excuse of a super-soldier are you if you got a flaw in your brain?"

"I'll be sure to pass your complaints to the men in white coats next time I see them," Alec replied. "Look, man, these are hitting pretty fast, and I don't know how this will end. I've always had my meds before."

"What are you saying?" Dean was not liking what he was hearing.

"You should go, get back to Seattle. I'll only slow you down," Alec reasoned.

"Yeah, right," Dean replied. Alec could get that idea out of his head right now.

"Seriously, you can send someone back," Alec said, resting his head against the post.

"And by then you'll be a vegetable!" Dean took off his jacket and stuck it behind Alec's head as a cushion. "I'm not going to be the reason your kid's memories of her father feature you staring out a window, drooling."

Alec gave a weak smile. "She got to you, didn't she? She gets to everyone. It's the smile."

Dean shrugged. "Yeah, she's a cute kid; she's got the Dean Winchester grin, all right."

"She has my smile!" Alec hissed, and Dean nodded. "Look, man, quick question –how serious is it between you and that Max chick?"

Alec let out a low growl causing Dean to grin. "Good boy. You keep fighting and I'll be back as soon as I can."

* * *

Alec drifted in and out of consciousness for what seemed like an age. He was woken up by a bucket being plonked down in front of him.

"There you go, hope you don't mind whole milk, the store was out of everything else," Dean said, finally untying Alec.

Alec picked up the bucket of milk and took a mouthful.

"Hope that's all right; Ellen said milk and turkey, right?" Dean said, sitting down on the upturned bucket.

"It's warm," Alec said, putting the bucket down. He sniffed the air before turning to Dean. "You smell like a toilet."

"Chiller cabinet was broken." Dean looked at the ground for a second before making a move on the bucket. "But, if you ain't happy, I can take it back."

Alec held on to the bucket. "No, it's fine. I'll be good to go once I've had this."

One bucket of milk later, the color was returning to Alec's cheeks. He got to his feet, preparing to head off.

Alec kicked the bucket Dean was resting his head on. "You ready?"

Dean stretched after being rudely awakened from his half-hour's sleep. "Yeah, let's go."

Dean opened the shed door to be greeted by an old man holding a rifle. "Who are you?"

"Wait, old timer, it's okay, we're leaving," Dean said, trying to calm the old guy down.

The old man pointed at the both of them. "You're the two of them escaped from that police van, ain't you?"

"Do we look like hardened criminals to you?" Alec answered, taking a small step forward. "Our car broke down, and we needed to get out of the rain."

"Yeah," Dean replied. "We're going to be on our way, if that is all right with you."

"Don't move!" the old guy yelled as Dean took a step, he glanced over his shoulder toward the house. "Myra, call the sheriff!"

Alec moved quickly, tossing the rifle to Dean, while stopping the old man from falling in the dirt.

"Right, we're not going to hurt you, we're just going to go," Dean said as he took the bullets and firing pin out of the gun. "Actually, is it all right if we borrow a car? We'll get it back to you."

"And can we use your phone?" Alec said, smiling.

* * *

"Boo!" The little girl yelled in Sam's face as he lay on a cot in Terminal City.

Aimee jumped up and down as Sam righted himself.

"There you are!" Eve yelled. She came running into the room as Sam sat the little girl beside him. Eve walked up to Aimee. "You weren't supposed to run away."

Aimee grinned, putting one of her hands in her mouth, as Eve told her off for disturbing a grown up and picked her up.

"It's okay, Eve, I had to get up anyway," Sam said, as Aimee squirmed in the older girl's arms.

"Sorry, Mr Sam, she got away from me," Eve said contritely.

"Do you want me to take her?" Sam asked as Aimee fussed – Eve was holding her under arms in a bear hug, which had to be uncomfortable for both the toddler and the five year old, especially seeing how Aimee was determined to be put down on the ground that was only a couple of inches below her feet.

Eve peered at Sam. "I can hold her!"

Sam smiled at the stubborn little girl before him; no wonder they all said she was going to cause problems when she was older. "I'm not saying you can't, but I don't know my way around here, so what do you say if I carry Aimee and you show me where everyone else is?"

Eve thought for a second before presenting Sam with the younger child. "You can take her."

Sam barely got a second to take hold of the child before Eve spun around and started off down the hall.

The three of them had gotten a couple of hundred yards before bumping into Gem, who looked down at her daughter. "There you are, young lady, and what did I tell you?"

Eve looked at the ground. "I could stay up if I stayed put."

"And what is this?" Gem asked.

"Not staying put," Eve replied. She looked up at her mother. "But, Aimee wanted to go for a walk."

"Eve?" Gem said, taking the younger girl from Sam's arms. "What are you going to do now?"

"Go to sleep," Eve said as Gem opened the door that had been serving as a makeshift bedroom for both of the children.

"That's right." Gem put Aimee in the cot as Eve got into bed. "And we won't hear a peep from either of you, right?"

"Yes, Mommy," Eve replied.

Sam smiled as he watched the display of normal life. Gem sighed as she closed the door. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, they're no trouble," Sam said.

"You want to deal with her 24/7?" Gem asked. "Anyway, before I had to go looking for those two, I was actually looking for you."

Sam straightened up. "You have news?"

Gem nodded. "Don't worry, we've had a signal; they're okay and returning to base."

"I got to get out there," Sam said, wondering which corridor he should take to get back to the garage.

Gem shook her head. "We don't know where they are, but they're okay. They won't risk breaking cover until they know it's safe. They're probably making their way back right now."

Sam followed her down a corridor. "And I'm supposed to sit here and wait?"

"Well, you could get cleaned up and get something to eat, if you want?" Gem replied. "Your dad is at command, if you're wondering."

"This whole thing must be really strange for you?" Sam asked, wondering what someone outside his family thought of the sudden reappearance of the three of them.

"I was born in a top secret military base and have the DNA of a number of different species in my genetic makeup. I live in what is basically a highly fortified biohazard dump, and spend most of my time either making cookies or helping out in command. So, I think you can say I'm more open minded than most about you three turning up," Gem said, smiling.

"So, you believe in what we do, my brother, Dad and me?" Sam asked.

"The hunting?" Gem asked. "Oh sure, I've met some of the hunters who come around here, and to be honest, I find it kind of comforting."

"Comforting? You find that having evil out there, comforting?" Sam asked, not understanding what she was saying.

"Not when you put it like that. It is good to know that there are things out there that are worse than us."

Sam stopped. "What do you mean?"

"Manticore trained us, bred us, taught us how to kill, and told us who to kill, and not once did we fight back. We could have easily overpowered our guards, Sam, but we didn't," Gem said, explaining the situation. "I missed Manticore when it was gone, Sam, and I'm not the only one. I missed being taught how to destroy. If that isn't evil, I don't know what is."

"It isn't evil, Gem. From what I've been told you were all brain-washed since birth. So, yeah, missing that place is fucked up, but it doesn't make you evil."

Gem shrugged. "Tell that to the people who died 'cause of us."

* * *

They got out of the car at the city gates. "You sure you don't want to split up?" Alec asked Dean.

Dean shook his head as he looked at Alec; he was pale again and Dean wasn't going to risk it.

"So, you got any ideas?" Dean asked Alec. "'Cause I'm out."

"Getting through the gates should be easy enough. Then I'm thinking we head to Normal's. They won't be watching him too closely."

"You should get to a doctor, dude."

"I'm fine," Alec said. "Anyway, thought you were out of ideas?"

"This is your sandbox, not mine!" Dean protested as he started toward the gate.

"Will you stop it with the kitty cat references?"

Dean smirked. "Well, if you are going to admit that you're related to Garfield, I'm going to pick you up on it."

"Garfield?" Alec was confused.

"Funny cat, loved lasagne, hated Mondays," Dean explained.

"It's jungle cat in my cocktail, not some Sunday morning funny!"

Dean shrugged. "Whatever."

"At least I didn't go molesting some bovine."

Dean looked at Alec, his face as black as thunder. "I thought we weren't going to discuss that, dude!"

"It's just I've never had anyone milk a cow for me before."

"Well, it saved your neck, didn't it."

Alec smiled. "Where did you learn to do that, anyway? 'Cause you stink."

Dean was silent for a second, before turning to Alec. "I thought it would be easier than it was. Can we drop it?"

"What? Did you read a book or watch a film or something?" Alec said, holding back a laugh. Dean whipped his head round at the last part of his statement.

"Oh, man, you have got to be kidding!" Alec said, bursting into laughter. "Was it a very instructional film?"

"Will you stop that?" Dean begged

"Were there lots of little milk maids in it?" Alec bit his lip.

"All right, yes, it was porn. I saw a porn flick with a girl milking a cow in it! I saved your skin because of something I learned in a porn flick," Dean yelled, before turning. "And if you tell anyone I'll kill you!"

Alec stopped giggling. "And they say that films like that can't be educational."

* * *

Normal was looking up when he felt the prod in his back.

He swallowed, not looking around. "Look, just take the cash. I haven't seen your face, so take the money and go."

"What? Your diversionary 324 bucks?" Alec asked, causing Normal to spin around to see Alec pointing a finger at him. "Starla from the Blowfish told me where you keep the rest of the cash takings, and trust me, I am never going to be that desperate."

"Man, am I glad to see you!" Normal said, hugging the other man.

"Do you two want to be alone?" Dean asked as he watched the other two men embrace.

"Thank God you're back, too!" Normal said hugging Dean, much to Alec's amusement.


	10. Author Note

Advice Please!

Right I have hit a bit of a block and I need some help, and I'm probably going to get into trouble for asking this here.

I have some ideas but I need some opinions – I'm stuck what to do with Jo exactly. The guys sure I'm clear on but not her exactly.

Now people – even those who think I should be making this decision myself, we have a choice so please tell me what you want me to write.

Dean/Jo pairing

Dean/Jo friendship

Or leave it completely open.

From what I have written so far means that it could really go any of the three; even if it does get a more than a little bumpy along the way.


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer - Please see earlier chapters

For those of you few who are still reading this, thank you for your patience - I have finally gotten around to getting up a new bit!

Still have really no idea what to do with Jo, but hey ho, no point on stalling the rest of it is there?

* * *

Aimee refused to go to sleep, sitting bolt upright every time she was put down in her cot, though she did keep rubbing her tired little eyes.

"I'm surprised you asked for her tonight," Max said, standing in the doorway of the little girl's bedroom.

Alec tried to put his daughter down to sleep, even though she was refusing to play ball. "We've let Clemente know that I'll be coming in tomorrow, so the cops aren't going to come knocking at the door tonight, and this place is secure."

Max turned to look at the small apartment's front door – she remembered when he'd gotten it and the windows reinforced even though it was in the heart of Terminal City. It had been the day after Molly had said yes to him having Aimee overnight. He wasn't going to risk anything where that little girl was concerned, even a full assault on the apartment.

She also remembered that first night when he'd called her and Joshua, nervous as hell, just wanting reassurance that he was doing the right thing. Not wanting to call Molly or Ellen, in case they thought he couldn't cope.

Max remembered how the three of them had sat in the room watching the baby sleep all night long. Alec trying to resist the urge to pick up his daughter any time she stirred or made a noise.

Max shook her head. "But if you were seizing as bad as Dean said, you need your rest."

"You saw her at the clinic; she wouldn't let me out her sight. Molly would never have gotten her to sleep tonight, and if you're worried about me seizing, it's not like I'm going to be alone tonight."

"When are they coming over?"

Alec shrugged, his back still to her.

"White isn't going to be happy when he works it out, that it didn't work because he kidnapped an ordinary."

"How is he going to know? That Henricksen guy was too interested in getting us out of the city to take DNA from him," Alec said, turning his head slightly, allowing him to look at her. "Carr said that he should be able to get a breakdown of what the toxin is from the blood sample he took from Dean, and we've even got the antidote to work with."

"Yeah, but making more of it will take time. In the meantime, we're all stuck drinking bottle water in case White dumps that crap in the water supply."

"So we get a move on, then."

She shook her head at him. "We don't have the cash for that right now."

Alec grinned. "About time we organized a little fundraiser, isn't it?"

"Not tonight we don't. We don't know what the long term effects are."

"One guinea pig, at your service." He turned back to look at the little girl.

Max came into the lilac room where the little girl stayed on her visits with her daddy, though the lilac could only be seen on the wall beside the door which presently had a large box and mattress leaning against it. The others were covered by the drawings and paintings he had put up from floor to ceiling, and the shelves of toys and books, some of which were for the little girl, but most were parenting manuals.

Max stood beside Alec at the cot as she looked over at the box, while Aimee finally decided that she was going to settle, the little girl seeming happier on seeing both Alec and Max standing over her cot.

"Are you ever going to put that together?" Max asked as Alec tucked Aimee in.

"I got time," Alec said, watching Aimee yawn

Max looked at him.

Alec scowled as he turned to Max. "She can still fit in her cot; the books say that she doesn't have to be in a bed yet."

"With the way you handle a screwdriver, she'll be in college by the time you put that grown-up bed together. You remember what you were like with the cot – Fixit had to throw you out of the room."

"Electronics I'm good with – woodwork I'm not, okay? Anyway, I still say those instructions weren't right – the English was completely different than the Japanese."

"Yeah, you were really following the instructions that day," Max said lightly, looking at the child. "You know she can't stay daddy's little girl forever."

Alec smiled down at his daughter as she finally lost her battle with sleep. "She'll always be my little girl."

As they went into the other room Max smiled, and even though he couldn't see it, he knew what she was doing.

"What?" he asked.

She turned to face him. "Nothing."

"Maxie?" he asked again.

"It's nothing."

"Right." Alec was getting agitated.

"It's you."

Alec looked down, brushing his clothes. "What? Is something on me?"

She shook her head. "It's just that, who would have thought it?"

Alec wasn't sure if he was being insulted or not.

"Who would have thought big bad Alec would have met his match in a little girl less than three feet tall."

Alec looked at her. "Are you saying I'm whipped?"

Max cocked her head to one side. "Not exactly."

"Then, what are you saying?" he asked, going to the refrigerator to get them both a drink.

"I never thought that it would be like this, especially seeing how Molly gave you an out."

"What, you thought I'd ditch them?" Alec was really hurt at that, how could she think that of him?

"No, it was, when she was born I knew you'd protect her, support her. But I wasn't sure you'd really let her in."

Alec looked down at the water bottle in his hand, not replying to Max's statement.

"Yet here you are, just back, and instead of you, Dix and Mole getting drunk, or you deciding to visit a couple of willing girls like you would have done before her, you're here," Max said, smiling. "I never thought I'd say it, but she's changed you; we all tried, and it took someone small and helpless to do it."

"So, I'm either a drunken man-whore or I'm completely under the thumb of someone who worships Barney the dinosaur?"

Max nodded, smiling, and Alec frowned. She threw a couch cushion at him. "I'm paying you a compliment, you idiot."

"Doesn't sound like it to me." He picked the cushion up and walked over to the couch. "She's mine, Max, really mine. I know the way I got her wasn't clean, and you didn't believe us when we told you how, but Aimee is the one thing I've got that has nothing to do with Manticore."

"Alec, I've always believed the both of you. I've been in heat too many times not to know when someone is telling the truth about losing control in that way."

Alec shook his head. "Yeah, but you're convinced someone was spraying something and we got dosed."

"It's possible, isn't it?" Max replied. "Alec, don't you ever listen to me? I'm saying you're a good father, even if you don't think you are. Any kid would be proud to have you as its dad, you dolt!"

Alec peered at her sideways. "Max are you propositioning me?"

"Oh yes, definitely," she said sarcastically, and he smiled. "Don't go getting ideas."

Alec smiled mischievously. "Me? Ideas?"

She threw another cushion in his direction, which he dodged. "And don't go missing again, jackass."

"Always with the ass, Max! You are obsessed."

"I'm being serious."

Alec stilled, hoping for a straight answer this time. "Why?"

"You know how important you are to this place; who else is supposed to keep up with all the deals you got going?"

Alec looked at the floor. "Oh, and there I was thinking I'd be missed."

"Of course we'd miss you."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "And you need me to keep the supplies rolling in."

"Alec, you always seem to have four or five deals on the go. I can never keep up," she replied.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't."

She narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying that you don't, then?"

"Maybe I want to concentrate on one at a time but don't think I should stand still waiting for that one sweet deal to come along."

She shrugged. "If you want it so much, you go out and take it."

"Maybe it's one of those deals that comes along once in a lifetime, and you can't rush it. Maybe its one of those deals that has a number of buyers interested, and you have got to tough it out, 'cause if I did anything else I'd blow it."

"So, you're saying that you'd give up all the other deals if that one deal came good, and you'd be satisfied with that?" she asked, and he gave a little nod. "What if that one deal was waiting to see what you're prepared to do?"

"You mean to sweeten the pot?" Alec asked, barely inches from her. "You saying that one deal is waiting for me to clear up all the others before we can work something out?"

She looked up at him. "What are we talking about?"

"I don't know." He stroked her cheek.

"I thought you weren't coming back this time." She closed her eyes. "I blamed Sam."

"I heard, and I would never do that to you."

A small smile formed on her face as he brushed her hair away from her neck. "You always say that."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

He starting drawing small circles with his thumb on the back of her neck; she took a breath and a small step closer to him, all the time his hand working her neck. She raised her head, causing him to stop.

"You sure, you really sure?" he asked, slightly hesitant.

She didn't say a word, instead looking into his hazel green eyes and giving him a little smile. He stroked her cheek again as she tilted her head back and over to the right. "Max, you know I want this, but I'm not going to push you into anything."

"You're not pushing. You never push, that's the problem," she said, baring her throat to him

"I know better than to push you into anything." He smiled, and combed his fingers though her hair. She was willing; it had taken the two of them so long to get to this point. He pulled her close, inhaling her scent. "You don't have to, you know that."

She nodded. "I know, but if you don't want to…"

He put a finger to her lips. "Max."

She looked at him before turning her head slightly to one side, exposing more of her throat to him.

He leant down…

"Hey idiot, you going to open this door or what?" Dean yelled as he banged on the Alec's front door.

"Come on, we got beer, pizza and some weird care package that Ellen made up. I swear she's tried to make cookies something; well I think they're cookies! Even got the dogboy with us," Dean called through the door.

Alec sighed, as did Max, and he pulled away from her. "I'd better go…"

"Yeah, I know." She held onto his hand for a few seconds.

"Come on, dude, if I got to lay low tonight, I'm not doing it in this hallway," Dean yelled again, there was a muffled thump and Alec was sure he could hear Dean swearing, Sam must have just hit him. Right now, Alec wanted to do more to Dean than that.

"About time!" Dean said as Alec opened the door, brushing past his host, closely followed by Sam and Joshua.

Max was leaning next to the couch, her hand rubbing her unmarked neck. She straightened. "You guys planning a good night?"

Dean finished putting the beer he had bought into the refrigerator. "Sure, since we're going to be stuck here for the night, we thought we'd take advantage. Guys' night-in: Dad's picking up Sketchy, Normal's swinging by, so's Mole and that Biggs guy, for a quiet night of beer, contemplation and poker. Hell, I think Logan's turning up, too."

"So, you have it all planned." Max said, looking over at Alec, a look that didn't fail to get noticed by Joshua.

She pushed away from the couch, all the while covering her neck. "I'll let you guys get on with it."

"Max?" Alec said, trying to think of something to say.

"Hey, you don't want me hanging around," she said, heading for the door. Alec went to follow, but Joshua put a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head.

Alec looked at the floor as she closed the door.

"Sorry," Joshua said.

"It's okay," Alec said, and he heard a cry from the other room. "I'd better get that."

As Joshua watched Alec go, Dean took a mouthful of pizza. Sam turned to Joshua. "Did we interrupt something?"

Joshua looked at the two brothers and nodded.

* * *

Cindy handed Max a beer as she sat on a stool at 'Crash'.

"Don't, Boo, I've said it before: I don't want to hear it."

Max took a mouthful. "Thanks, OC."

"Seriously, Boo, sort it out or shut up about it. I love you, but all of you been going 'round in circles for too damn long for everybody's liking, and I'm sick of hearing about it."

Jo looked at Molly as they stood at the other end of the bar, watching the exchange. "What's going on?"

Molly shook her head. "You don't want to know!"

Ellen nodded as she got a pitcher for herself and her two daughters. "Welcome to the world's most stupid mess."

"Mom," Molly said.

Ellen scowled. "Don't you 'Mom' me, young lady. You're as big a part of this mess as the rest of them."

"I'm out of it. It's none of my business."

Ellen looked at her younger daughter, causing Jo to turn to Molly, who continued. "Look, the three of them are capable of sorting it out, it's not my fault they don't. If only two of them would sit down and talk, then they would get somewhere."

"Logan and Alec talk about this?" Ellen said, Jo finally working out what the others were talking about.

"Oh right, they won't, huh?"

Ellen shook her head. "Every time they get close to sorting it out, something gets in the way."

"It isn't always my fault," Molly protested. "She is capable of picking one of them."

"And I'm guessing, won't?" Jo asked. The other two looked at her. "Or is it she can't?"

"It's not like any of them are standing still either, they all try and get out there; it's that they keep coming back to this," Molly explained. "Max and Logan can't do the whole 'being together, but not' anymore, and both her and Alec are too stubborn to admit that they're willing to commit; especially as Logan is still in the background. I think it's getting to a point where Max would be willing to back out, if Alec and Logan decided to get together."

Ellen nodded. "Either one of those two would back down if the other one said he wanted him to, but they won't talk about it, because every time they try to, it comes back to Alec not liking the fact that Max or someone else helps out Logan now and then."

Molly rolled her eyes. "Yes, he passes me things he's heard about that can't be explained, and I pass him things that may have an explanation - and so what if I double check stuff for him? It's nothing dangerous, and I get paid for the stuff I research for him; I'm not going to be some sad case depending on her mom and dad or the father of her child to pay the bills."

"You know my thoughts," Ellen said.

"Mom, I'm not working here full-time. This bar is your thing, and Cindy's; I'll do an odd shift, but that's it," Molly said, standing her ground. "I'm a researcher, and I'm damn good at what I do! Why does it feel sometimes that Dad, Max and Logan are the only ones that see it?"

Jo sat there silently. Was this how her fights with her mother looked to the outside world?

"Molly!" Ellen said firmly. "I don't want you in any trouble, and as for Alec, he's just looking out for his daughter."

"Oh, so it's all right for him and Max to go out getting shot at by God knows who? Little Mole isn't going to be hurt enough if anything happens to him?" Molly asked. "Or her? Mom, you know fine well what Aimee thinks of Max."

"I know that," Ellen replied.

Jo exhaled. "Right, lot of baggage, then?"

* * *

Dean tried to get comfortable on Alec's battered old couch. Sam scowled at him from his spot on the floor.

"Look, I get it, you get the couch as I'm too tall to fit on that damn thing, but can you at least give me a couple of cushions?"

Dean threw the smallest one he could find at his brother, before turning his back on him. "There you go, don't say I don't give you anything."

Sam caught the cushion, throwing it back at Dean. "Right, that is it! You have been a total bitch since I saw you at the clinic. I'd say it was that stuff that they gave you, but it's just me you seem to in one of your moods with, so what the hell have I supposed to have done this time?"

Dean didn't say a word, causing Sam to throw a shoe at him.

"Will you cut that out; you'll wake the kid!" Dean said, spinning around as Sam's shoe clipped the top of the couch.

"Well, stop being a jerk."

"Bite me!"

"Oh, aren't we being adult about something!" Sam spat back.

Dean sat up. "You want to know? You really want to know?"

"Yeah, I want to know, ass-wipe."

"And you're saying I'm being childish?"

Sam sighed. "Right, what is going on? What have I done?"

"The blue lady, remember her?" Dean asked.

"Oh, that," Sam replied.

"Yeah, that Sam; Alec told me about him, so when the hell were you going to tell me?" Dean asked.

Sam shrugged. "I didn't know that I'd have to?"

"Oh, stupid me – you get a vision, you tell me – I thought we had a deal?"

"What deal? I'm not your personal tracking system, Dean!" Sam sighed. "And technically, they weren't visions, they were dreams."

Dean rubbed a palm over his face. "Okay, they were dreams, but you should have told me. You kept waking me up in the middle of the night screaming about this blue lady; you had me thinking it was some weird kink nightmare you were having."

"What did you want me to say – that I'm dreaming of you killing people?"

Dean pouted at his brother. "And you thought…?"

Sam sat up. "I don't know what the hell I thought – the one thing I didn't think was 'hey, I'm getting transmissions from the future about a little hobby one of your clones has picked up.' Hell, when Max told me, I didn't know what the hell to do; she said he was dead, anyway."

"So, you knew all about the nut job with my face, and you still kept your mouth shut."

"Keep your voice down, will you?" Sam said through gritted teeth. "Yeah, I didn't tell you. Hell, Dean, she told me that day we first went to the bar. Then we got dumped with Billy, Aimee, and the fact that Dad had been sick, and that they didn't want us to know."

"Right, I'll give you that, but you have had time – why not share?"

"Oh, let me see, I only got that he was dead and he liked pulling teeth. Dad didn't want to talk about it, said the guy was gone, Ellen was in the same mind, As for Max, well, she didn't really want to go into much more, apart from that place they came from broke him, and I'm guessing pushing her on this ain't going to do me any favors."

"What about me? What about him?" Dean asked, nodding in the direction of the other rooms.

"Well, you had just accused the guy of being a murderer, a rapist and being less than human. A wild stab in the dark Dean, but me bringing up the psycho twin wouldn't go down too well with either of you!"

Dean couldn't help but be angry; he turned his back on his brother again. "Fine, the next time I get dragged of the street, drugged, and then all most end up as somebody's personal lab rat, I'll think, 'Thanks Sam, for sparing my feelings.'"

Sam picked up his clothes and headed for the door. There was no point in staying there when he couldn't yell and get it out. Alec definitely wouldn't appreciate them waking up the kid.

As he closed the door of the apartment, he gently banged his head off the door out of frustration.

"Wondered how long it would take you."

Sam turned to see Mole, cigar butt in his mouth, standing at the end of the corridor.

"What?"

"Looked as if you were ready to go – took longer than I thought you would, kid."

"Thanks. I need five minutes, okay?" Sam said.

Mole nodded. "Got staying power, I'll give you that. I had you running screaming down main street a couple of days ago."

Sam smiled. "Am I that predictable?"

"How do I know?" Mole asked, he pointed to his face. "This don't mix too well with your kind. Ordinary or hunter; tends to make you jumpy. I leave people-dealing to those that like it."

"And there was me thinking you were the life and soul of the party," Sam said sarcastically. "And you know, technically I'm older than you."

Mole smirked. "How do you know – maybe I've been skulking around since before I was a twinkle in your John's eye; could be I moisturize, scales make it hard to tell."

Sam let out a laugh.

"Anyway, she's waiting outside," Mole said. "I'll look after these two."

"Who?" Sam was confused.

"Max. It ain't my problem that she don't sleep, personally I like it, but she don't even seem to do it for recreation. I'm even thinking about trying out this hibernation thing that some of my kind are trying out, if I actually trusted them to wake me up. Knowing princess, he'd think it funny to let me sleep in for a couple of extra months." Mole took the cigar butt out of his mouth and tapped the ash onto the floor. "As I said, she'll be outside waiting, so get your ass out there and she'll sort you out with a place for you to stay tonight, give you a break from everything."

Sam took a few steps down the hallway.

Mole turned. "Hey Sam, if she apologizes to you, get it writing, 'cause hell, we'd all like to see her get down of her high horse once in a while."

Sam opened the main door at the front of the apartment block to find Max standing by her bike.

"Need some space?" she asked, handing him a helmet as he walked over to join her.

"I don't know," Sam replied.

"From what I've heard, the other two have had their freak out – we were waiting for you."

"Where you all running a book?" Sam asked.

She didn't answer; instead, she smiled and got on her bike, waiting for him to get on behind her.

They pulled up at Molly's block, and Sam waited patiently as Max stowed her bike. "Thought Molly was staying at Mom and Dad's tonight?"

"She is – someone else lives here too. She should be able to put you up for the night; damn good listener if you need it."

Sam was curious. "Why are you doing this? Thought you weren't sure about us?"

She scratched her nose. "I wasn't, but as you said, if you three had been sent to hurt us then you would have disappeared when they got picked up."

"And this?" Sam asked, to which she shrugged as they walked up the stairwell.

"Everybody needs a break, and you been playing pressure-valve for the other two since you got here. Something you ain't used to doing, if what John says is true."

"Not really. Keeping the peace in my family tends to be Dean's job."

"How many alphas can you get in one family?" she asked rhetorically. Max turned to him. "Everyone else seems to trust you, and so do I – you handled Ben, didn't go running to the other two, kept quiet and I appreciate that."

"You killed him, didn't you?"

"You're the first person ever to work that out. Alec and your parents know I did, I told them." She looked at the floor. "Ben asked me to. He was my brother, and he asked me to."

Sam clenched his jaw, thinking how Dean had been asked to the same thing, if need be. "You stopped him. I suppose it was the best thing you could do for him." He paused. "Ben was your brother? I thought…?"

Max raised an eyebrow. "We don't think like you do. Ben was my brother; we were in the same unit. Just because we didn't share genes, doesn't mean Ben was anything less than that to me."

Sam was confused. "Right."

* * *

"This better be good, or someone better be dead!" came the yell from the other side of the door. OC was holding a frying pan, her hair all over the place, as she looked at the two of them through the crack in the door.

"Got a waif and stray, needs a place to hold till morning?" Max said, smiling.

Cindy didn't look amused. "It the wrong side of dawn, Boo!"

"Just for the night – promise; he needs a place to crash, away from everything."

"Right!" The door closed and Sam could hear her undoing the chain.

The door opened wide. "Come on, tall boy, you can get your freak on here for a couple, but sympathy is off 'til after the sun come up – Cindy ain't no vampire, and I don't function on less than six."

* * *

There was a noise; Dean stirred at the sound, his hand automatically reaching under his pillow. There was another rustle; the barely awake Dean moved his arm slightly, only to find a strong hand – a very strong hand – clamped around his wrist.

"If you have what I think you have under there, drop it," Alec said lightly.

"What?" Dean let go of his knife. He turned to find a little face staring at him, offering him a hairbrush and some clips.

"Hair?" Aimee asked.

"I don't think you want me to do that, kid," Dean said to the little girl.

Aimee peered at her uncle. He was on Daddy's couch, and the rule was whoever was on the couch did her hair, everybody knew that: Auntie Max, Uncle Biggs, even Uncle Dix, even though he didn't try to put bunches in anymore 'cause he always did them crooked.

She scrunched up her face as she looked at her Uncle determinedly. "Hair!"

"Right, I'm not getting out of this, am I?" Dean asked as he sat up, letting the little girl hand him the hair brush and other things before the two-year-old climbed onto the couch.

Dean smiled at the girl. "You know, this is a bad idea, kid. You sure you don't want to do something else?"

"She didn't want to sleep – decided to get up and see who was about. Count yourself lucky you're not on diaper duty," Alec said, before going over to the door and sticking his head out. "Food's up, and get that butt out of mouth before you come in here."

Mole closed the door as he came in, he headed over to the kitchen table, catching a glimpse of the little girl who had settled in Dean's lap.

Dean looked at the neat pile of blankets on the floor. "Where's Sam?"

"He needed some air," Mole said, answering Dean's question.

Alec snatched the cigar butt out of Mole's mouth. "What did I say?"

"It ain't lit!" Mole replied, turning his attention to his breakfast.

"So, where is he?" Dean asked, trying to work out how to use the hair accessories that the little girl was handing him.

"She pick him up okay?" Alec asked.

"You let her sit out there to wait, didn't you?" Mole asked Alec who didn't answer. "Why don't you two sort your shit out, man?"

"Max knew was she was welcome." Alec peered at him. "By the way, your name sake's listening, you know that."

"Why is that my problem?" Mole replied. "Moll's gonna blame you anyway."

"Great, by the time she's three, you'll have her talking like a sailor."

"Better that, than you living through another strip club fiasco," Mole replied, while Dean grew more harassed Aimee kept putting hair things in his hands.

"Operation 'Sketchy gets laid' was not my idea; I left her with him in good faith. How the hell was I supposed to know where they'd take her?" Alec said in his defence. "I was picking them up when Max and Moll got there."

Mole looked at Alec. "Right, and they didn't find Sketchy AND you in that dressing room, with half those girls cooing over the kid."

"Where is Sam?" Dean asked again as he caught his finger in a clip. He looked down at Aimee. "You know, kid, I remember your grandma doing this for your mom. Can't we call her to do this?"

Aimee shook her head, flashing her uncle a big grin.

Dean raised an eyebrow at her. "You're killing me here, you know that?"

Aimee didn't respond; Dean turned his attention back to the others. "If Max picked him up, where's Sam now?"

"He'll be at OC's probably. After the fight you two had last night, I don't blame him for needing some space," Alec replied.

Dean looked at the two transgenics. "We didn't have a fight."

"Yeah, right, and I'm gonna win Miss America this year," Mole replied.

"You never know, you could have enough frog in you to spontaneously change sex," Alec said to his friend.

* * *

**For those of you who were wondering what I have been up to I thought I'd try and fill in the blanks of what happened to everyone else during the time Jo Sam and Dean disappeared (well John and Ellen really)**

**Okay I'm not good at pimping my own stuff - but if you are interested you can find out - story is called _'Burnin' in my Dreams'_**


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer - Please see earlier chapters

Sorry this has taken so long to get up life kind of got in the way.

* * *

Logan and Sam stood by the courthouse entrance as the car pulled up with Alec and Dean inside.

"Why the hell do I have to wear a suit?" Dean asked as Alec got out of the car. He had no other clean clothes, and Alec had refused to lend him a pair of jeans and a clean tee shirt.

"You have to look like a normal member of society – hard for you, I know, but this is important. White wants the Feds to think we tried to escape – wants the authorities to come down hard on us; then he'll probably try to dose as many of us with that stuff as he can, destabilize us enough that he can finish us off and it'd look like the Feds were mopping us up. That way the familiars get to win the war without all the normal folk ever knowing that they did anything."

"No, technically he wants to do that to you, not me. I'm the one bailing your genetically engineered butt out of it. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have the antidote or even be here."

"And we're ever so grateful." Alec closed the car door. "You're still wearing it."

"This better go according to plan; I ain't going down for something I didn't do."

"You think I want to?" Alec asked. "If this goes wrong we'll think of something, but right now there is more than us at stake."

"Right, you keep telling me. If we have to bust out, we do it when they can't say anyone else helped," Dean replied. "This may be your game, but I don't have to like it, and I ain't carrying your butt anywhere again."

As they joined the other two men on the steps, Dean felt apprehensive.

"You okay, man?" Sam asked. Dean didn't answer right away, instead taking a breath as the others made a move to go inside.

Dean turned to his brother, "Look, man, I was…"

"I know," Sam replied, cutting off his brother's apology.

"Still think you should have told me, but I get it," Dean said as he turned to face his possible fate.

Their father was waiting, and gave them a weak smile, uncomfortable about the setting of this meeting; he hadn't seen his eldest in a suit for anything other than a con, since Dean's prom.

Clemente came out of the courtroom as they sat outside, nodding to Logan and Alec.

"Is this going to take long?" Alec asked.

Clemente smiled. "Depends."

"Why, what's happening?" Logan.

Henricksen flung the courtroom door open and stormed out. He stood there for a few seconds, staring at both Alec and Dean, not saying a word, before focusing on Sam for a moment. "Sam Winchester?" he said incredulously.

John stood up and took a step forward. "Can we help you?"

Henricksen was dumbfounded; he'd looked for the brothers for almost two decades, and now they were here in front of him and not aged one single day. Dean got up as well, though he didn't say a word as Henricksen turned and left them.

Clemente watched the special agent leave and then turned back to Logan. "Judge didn't buy his argument. Told him that she wasn't going to, but did he listen?"

Alec was intrigued. "What happened?"

"He told the judge that Florida wanted you two – suspects in a number of homicides – then flat out told her that you guys were a danger and that we couldn't handle it."

Logan smiled. "I take it she didn't like that."

"Hell, no – especially when he told her the genetic memory thing," Clemente said. "Thought she was going to pitch a fit at that one."

"So, what did she say?" Alec asked.

"Told him that his warrant's says he can take one suspect, and with the DNA evidence he's got, he's got at least two – possibly four – but he can't go eeny, meeny, miny, mo."

"Four?" Alec asked.

"Well, I know we didn't get a swab from him, but I'm assuming the two of you are related?"

"You could say that," Alec replied as the three of them looked over at Dean.

"Well, there's the two of you, the one you are always talking about, and this Dean Winchester guy who to be honest fits the bill better than you transgenics."

"What?" Logan asked.

"According to the records Henricksen brought, all of them pre-pulse and I mean all, this Dean Winchester was wanted for a load of shit when he up and disappears. Is it possible that those Manticore people picked him up the minute he started causing real trouble? If you guys look so much like him, wouldn't do with 'Daddy' being wanted in half of the continental US while they're trying to send you guys out," Clemente reasoned. "Guy could have broke out and started killing again."

Alec shook his head, as convenient as it would be to pin Ben's killings on Dean – especially with the police admitting that Dean actually existed and they wouldn't be looking for the version of the man sitting in that corridor – he didn't like the idea of pinning killings on an innocent man, the soldier inside him wouldn't let him. "No, it's 493's barcode on the back of those guys' necks."

"Right," Clemente said, "Is it possible that this Dean got locked up and saw 493 as he was growing up, focused on that code?"

Alec shook his head.

Clemente took a quiet glance in the direction of John, before turning back to face Logan and Alec "Never could understand why you guys got so close to that family, thought it was to do with that bar they own. But I'm guessing that you know all about Dean Winchester don't you?"

"That's one way to put it," Logan replied.

"But, you don't know where he or his brother could be?"

"Ramon, we aren't stupid enough to hide a killer from the cops," Alec said quickly, "Family or not."

"Sure," Clemente replied, knowing fine well that the transgenics wouldn't keep a known killer among them for long, "Well the gist of things is that the judge said that the Feds' couldn't take you two."

"What did Agent Henricksen say to that?" Logan asked.

"He wasn't happy."

"Did he pull the National Security card?" Alec enquired.

Clemente nodded. "She told him that he could stick any federal warrant he brought up his ass, seeing how he had broken almost every rule in the book, giving you some drug he'd gotten somewhere. He won't say where, though."

"We've got some idea where he got it," Logan replied.

"So, what now?" Alec asked.

"Back to the way it was before," Logan replied.

Alec rolled his eyes. "So, I get picked up every time the cops feel like it?"

Clemente shook his head. "No, not until we get some better evidence. Think the judge is as sick of this as you are."

"What about Florida?" Logan was confused.

"Unless you want to take a vacation in Miami then the judge says you don't have to go," Clemente said to Alec.

"Take it that they're welcome to pay us a visit?" Logan asked.

"If they can take the weather," Clemente replied. He glanced over at Dean. "You guys better be sure he's not 493?"

"He isn't," Alec said.

"Well, you better get some better ID for him than that crap than he was trying to pass off when we picked him up," Clemente said before he walked off.

Logan turned to Alec. "What did he have?"

"The three of them copied a couple of old sector passes; pretty good actually, considering they didn't have the equipment to do it properly. Wouldn't have been spotted if we hadn't been dragged in. Look, can you do me a favor?"

"Already on it; Molly asked if I'd call a guy I know."

Alec nodded. "Thanks, Logan. I owe you one. But don't cash it in too soon."

"Last time you got shot at wasn't for 'Eyes Only'."

"Yeah, I know that, you know that, but I don't feel like going another round with Ellen and Molly about it right now, and as for Max…"

"If you stop jumping in her path, you wouldn't get shot."

"Oh, and you'd be happy if I let her get hurt?"

Logan smiled. "She wouldn't get hurt if she wasn't covering your distracted butt."

"Who says I get distracted?" Alec asked jokingly. "I'll have you know, I'm the consummate professional."

"Of course you are," Logan replied.

"I'm prepared to do whatever I have to to get the job done and get everyone home in one piece."

Logan looked at the transgenic. "Alec, that scares the crap out of me sometimes."

Alec smiled at his friend. "You should learn to relax, you know that?"

"Why is it, when you say that, I feel like I should watch my back?"

"Logan, pal, I'm hurt," Alec replied. "I'd never drag anyone into anything."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Right, not deliberately you wouldn't."

"Okay, I admit I don't always think things through, but who does?"

* * *

Dean pulled at his collar as he sat there. He didn't like not being in control of his own fate, didn't like the fact that Alec and Logan were handling the cop. Yeah, sure, this was their playground, and his butting in probably wouldn't go down too well, but if the whole playing the good little boy didn't work, he'd be the one paying the price for it. God, he wanted out of Seattle right now.

Henricksen hadn't looked happy when he'd left, though, so at least that was a good sign. Alec turned around and came over to join them.

"So?" John asked, in a tone that Dean knew that his father was feeling the exact same thing as him.

"She kicked out the warrant, too many suspects, and by the sounds of things Henricksen pissed her off. And it looks like she's finally decided that until they have more on it, we're not going to get picked up again."

Dean smiled. "God, do I love a woman in a position of power."

"What now?" Sam asked.

"Go home," John replied.

"And get you guys some ID that's passable," Logan added, joining them.

John nodded, silently wondering how much this was going to cost.

"So I put on this monkey suit for nothing?" Dean asked, loosening his tie.

As they left the court house to start back to John and Ellen's home, two men watched the group, not saying a word. One blinked; his eyes changed for a second from bright blue to dull black, betraying the identity of who was really in control of the poor man's soul.

* * *

Sam was sitting in the basement he and his brother had been sharing since Joshua had finished his work. The rest of the house had been buzzing about; though Alec, Max and Logan had been huddled in a corner – something Ellen hadn't liked one bit. She muttered that if they wanted a private meeting they had a damn council room at TC they could use instead of her kitchen table.

Sam sat, quietly flicking through pages of the books that Logan had lent him describing the events of the past twenty years, using it to cross-reference some of the happenings described in what he was really focused on.

"Hey man, you're missing the party," Dean said, coming downstairs. "No time for you to be antisocial."

"I'm busy," Sam said, looking up for a second.

"Are you still pissed at me, or something?"

Sam shook his head. "I want to read this, okay?"

"What is it?" Dean said, sitting down beside Sam.

"Cindy gave them to me," Sam said guestering to the pile of notebooks lying besiding him, "She thought I might want to read them – you know – get to know him,"

"Get to know who?" Dean asked.

"Billy," Sam said. "He left her his journals."

Dean didn't know what to say for a second. "So, what do they say?"

"Looks like he wrote down everything. Life at the Roadhouse, Dad going out on hunts, school, what Ellen and Molly got up to, when he started to get sick."

"Really." Dean wondered what the kid thought about that.

"There's even stuff about us in them."

"What?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, he wondered what we were like, would we have liked him? Would we have thought him a disappointment or anything?"

Dean knotted his brow. "Why the hell would the kid have thought that?"

"'Cause he had Down Syndrome, because he got sick, because he worked out that he'd probably never go out and hunt. Looks like normal teenage angst really; most of it was after he turned thirteen. He wrote that when his chest was bad Dad wouldn't go out, stayed by his side to take care of him. Billy didn't like it too much, told Dad to go out and hunt, but Dad wouldn't," Sam explained. "Kid thought that it was because he had Down's, thought if it had been one of us then Dad would have listened to us."

"Well, he would have got that wrong," Dean replied.

"Yeah, I've got to the part were Alec turned up."

"And?"

"Looks liked Billy loved having a brother, someone he could show stuff to," Sam replied. "Someone he could explain hunting to, even though he knew he'd never go out himself."

"And Alec?" Dean asked.

"According to this, he seemed to enjoyed it too."

"Probably enjoyed the change of pace from all this," Dean replied.

Sam looked at his brother. "Well, then the shit seems to hit the fan."

"What happened?" Dean asked.

"As I said I've only skimmed bits and pieces here, but it seems that Molly's boyfriend caused a hell of a load of trouble."

"Oh, you're getting to the…" Dean didn't finish his sentence.

"Yeah," Sam replied. "But from the gist of it, Ellen and Molly's fights over this guy made the ones Ellen and Jo got into look like nothing."

"Ellen's never been one to keep her mouth shut about things, has she?"

"Ellen was right, Dean." Sam put down the book. "Guy took off the minute Dad found Molly and Alec; didn't want to know, even though it had been neither of their faults."

"He didn't even stick around to see if she was okay?" Dean asked and Sam raised an eyebrow. "Bastard."

"Yeah, totally."

"So what happened?" Dean asked.

"As I said, I've only had the chance to skim bits and pieces, but they couldn't take Alec to a hospital, so they stuck him in a back room at the Roadhouse and waited to see if he'd wake up."

"And?"

"Billy doesn't go into details, but you know Dad's temper," Sam said. "Looks like when Alec finally woke up, he just stood there and took it."

Dean bit his lip. "Probably got a lot worse back at that place he grew up."

"Yeah."

"And?"

"I haven't read that part yet," Sam stated. He flicked through the pages to a later entry. "But, when I started looking through these I found out why Mole's shit scared of Ellen."

"He is?" Dean asked.

"Oh yeah," Sam said smiling. "Tried to blow the guy's head off."

Dean was shocked. "What?"

"She let off a rock salt shot at him," Sam said, smiling.

"Why the hell would she do that?"

Sam handed his brother the book. "Looks like Mole and Billy were going to fix things between Dad and Alec, no matter if the two of them wanted to or not."

Dean read the pages and smiled. "They didn't?"

"Well, it worked."

"_15__th__ October 2023 _

_No.1 on to do list – Fix Dad and Alec! Will make sure that they are talking before the baby is born, or else._

_Mole, Joshua and Sketchy said they'd help. There is a cabin with a lake beside it not too far away, so it is perfect, though I hope it doesn't rain too much. Might make them grumpier._

_Haven't told Mom or Molly or any of Alec's other friends, they may not like the idea, but we don't have time. Molly is due soon and they are being stupid, wasn't Alec's fault, and Dad is just pissed 'cause they both got hurt and he wasn't there to stop it._

_16__th__ October 2023_

_Sketchy and Alec are going out tonight – Mole says that is the best time to pick him up, but means we'll have to pick Dad up before that. Haven't worked that out yet, though Mole says to leave it up to him, he'll get some of the kids on it – let Bugle and Dalton earn their keep for once. Don't understand what he means, they always seem to have loads to do, and Dix is always giving them lists of more stuff; only down-time they seem to get is when I go round to see them. _

_Will write later to tell you how it went._

_16__th__ October 2023-11.15_

_Getting hold of Dad was harder than I thought – Dalton is going to have a nice shiner tomorrow, and as for Bugle, don't know what Dad did but he had to go to the infirmary. Dad looked like he was going to kill me when I opened the door of the van to let Joshua put Alec in beside him. _

_We got them to the lake before Alec woke up, would have been easier if he snapped out of it before we put them in the boat 'cause maybe they'd have sorted something out before we'd got up there, then we wouldn't have use the chain we brought. Though Normal said his friends want them back as soon as we are finished with them, why they need them back so soon I have no idea. ._

_Mole brought along some fishing stuff, so we are going to have a really cool couple of days – though I hope it won't take that long, told Mom I'd be back tomorrow, but if this works it will be worth it._

_17__th__ October 2023_

_Dad stopped yelling at me – think he's gone hoarse. Like, what am I suppose to do? He's stuck on a boat in the middle of a lake and he knows what he's got to do if we're going to bring them back in. He's still not talking to Alec, though._

_Alec isn't saying a word either – he talks his way out everything, but when it comes to Dad he doesn't want to talk? Was Dean like that too? Dad always said Sam was the one that sulked. Does that mean that Sam was really sulky, then?_

_18__th__ October 2023_

_This is taking longer than I thought, but I can't call Mom yet, she is going to hit the roof, but I got my meds with me and the cabin is really cosy so it's not like I'm getting damp or cold or anything. Dad – well, he looks like a drowned rat – it rained last night. Alec doesn't look any better. _

_Mole says an X5 can last up to six days without water – never knew that. We left a few water bottles and some food in the boat, but if Alec can last without then this might take longer than I thought._

_Joshua is on watch on the jetty. He's brought his painting stuff. He and Sketchy were up at dawn. Sketchy was taking lots of pictures, says he could probably sell some to make some extra cash, some people like wildlife he says, and not the kind that you see down town. _

_Alec begged them to let them go 'cause his hands are too heavy to swim. Glad we got heavy chains, I wonder where Normal's friend got them? Thinking on it Normal knows some really strange people. _

_Joshua told Alec to talk to Dad and then we'd let them go, and not pretend talk, 'cause we'd know._

_Joshua also said that he'd paint my wall _–_ how cool is that! I'd be waking up to a real Joshua ever day._

_19__th__ October 2023_

_Max called Mole to see if he had seen us. He told her no – but not to worry, as all three of us were gone, that we were probably together. She said Mom was losing it and that I have an appointment tomorrow that I can't miss._

_I don't want anymore tests. I know that they won't be able to do anything – 'not a fit candidate' the people will say, 'other complications' and 'quality of life' and all that shit –shouldn't have wrote that. _

_I know it takes longer for me to get stuff and work out people, but I do. Mom doesn't have to wrap me up in cotton wool all the time, doesn't have to lie about it. I know what is going to happen because I heard her and Dad arguing. 'No hoodoo,' she said. 'No deals either, that would end up taking both of us.' _

_I'm not sure who would take us, or where they would take us, but if it is where I think it is I don't want to go, and I don't want Dad to go there again either _–_ he has to be here. Molly and the baby might need him 'cause what if the demon comes back? Mom and Molly might not be able to handle that alone, and Alec doesn't know enough to stop it. _

_Anyway, Alec's scared enough as it is. He's scared that that White guy will come for the baby or if there is something up with it. 'Progeria' I think Max said. I don't know what that is, Molly says it isn't like me it's something else but it makes the baby sick and I'm special, just like Mom and Dad say. _

_But sometimes I wonder if I wasn't like this, what would I be like, would I still be me? Cindy says that I'd be me, no matter what – I like her, she's funny and special and Dad actually listens to her sometimes when he doesn't listen to anyone else _–_ Mom says it's because the girl has her head screwed on right, because she don't jump to conclusions like some. _

_I think Mom means Logan. She's still angry with him for what he said about what happened, know he's jealous of Max and Alec, but Alec didn't run out on Molly, he didn't know when he left and he's helping now, so what does Logan know! _

_Anyway they aren't like that, never were – they're friends! The baby wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for what happened, so why does everyone think that they were having sex all the time and why does everyone shut up about it when I come into the room? I'm not stupid. I'm not a baby, and I know what sex is!_

_But Cindy is so cool, she answers my questions about everything, and she waited to hear the whole story before she said anything, then asked what did they want to do and she didn't think that Alec just ran. I think that Cindy reminds Dad of the river lady that we used to go and see when I was a kid, then we stopped. Sometimes, I wonder why we did._

_Cindy has noticed it, about Dad. Mom hasn't, but Dad isn't right. He hides it, but he's sick and won't tell her about it. Cindy and Alec have seen it because Dad's lost weight, but they say that it is up to Dad to tell everybody when he is ready. Like that will happen._

_Sketchy says maybe we can use my Doctor's appointment to get them to do something. I don't know, but it could work._

_20__th__ October 2023_

_Woke up early – Mole says that they've started to talk, only took four days. Not sure if we should bring them back in or not, but Sketchy says I've got to go back because of my appointment. He brought his bike, so we're going to go back and leave the others to it._

_21__st__ October 2023_

_Mom hit Sketchy! She knocked him out when we got to the clinic yesterday_–_ she walked right up, not saying a word when she saw us, and punched him! _

_Doc says I'm okay though – told her I can take care of myself. Mom wants to know where Dad is – told her that he was sorting some things out, that he should be back soon. Max wants to know if Alec is with him. Sketchy said he was, but not sure if anyone understood him because Mom broke his nose._

_I'm not going to get back up there. Max made Sketchy take her up, so I'm guessing that everyone will be back soon._

_22__nd__ October 2023_

_They ain't back yet. Mom's getting worried, well, more worried. Molly has tried to talk her into helping with her new place, but Mom ain't budging, she wants to go up there but can't because I'm not good at directions, and everyone else who knows where the place is, is already up there. _

_Moll says I'm full of it – which is true. I know exactly were the place is, but if Max hasn't dragged everyone back then that means they are getting somewhere._

_23__rd__ October 2023_

_Dad and Alec came back today – they smell bad but at least they are being polite to one another – it's a start._

_Mole got out of the van and Mom tried to shoot him, would have taken his head clean off if it wasn't a rock salt shot – told him if he ever tried to pull a stunt like that again she'd make him go the way of dinosaurs._

_Don't know what she'd say if she knew he'd already helped with other stuff on the list!"_

"What list is he talking about?" Dean asked.

Sam picked up a piece of paper that was lying beside him. "I think he means this."

He handed the paper to his brother. Billy had written a list of things he wanted to do before he died.

Dean smiled as he read the list – most were simple things, such as seeing the sea, going places, but there were others such as going out on a hunt with his Dad, having a beer – Billy had scribbled 'tastes yucky' in the margin. Though he did like 'No. 21 – Kiss a girl' – he had ticked it off, a number of times.

"Think I would have really got on with this kid," Dean said.

* * *

Max grabbed another beer out of the refrigerator and sat down. "So, we're going for the baseball again?"

"Well, you said it, Sammy Sosa's home-run baseball is worth a hell of a lot, and it ain't like it's going to be hard to fence. Also, there's a few other bits and pieces that we can pick up at the same time – should give us enough, with a little extra," Alec replied.

"Security has been beefed up since the last time you two tried to go for it," Logan replied. "Remind me why you didn't get it last time?"

"Someone had to get greedy, didn't he?" Max stated, looking at Alec.

"Hey, it wasn't me – you were the one who said to look at it," Alec replied.

"Look at the baseball card – not to touch it!"

Alec rolled his eyes. "We weren't window shopping, Max – you say, 'hey come here, look at this,' I'm guessing you want to pick it up."

"Yeah, but you had to stick your hand in."

"I'm so sorry. Stupid me assumed that as we had cut the power that all the security was out. How was I meant to know that the rookie card was on a separate circuit?" Alec said, defending himself.

Max shook her head. "It was sloppy, Alec, real sloppy."

Alec huffed. "Hey, don't have a go at me, you had the same idea."

"What is it about that baseball, this has to be the fourth time you gone after it?" asked Logan.

Max shrugged. "I have no idea. It's just that we try, and we never seem to be able to pick it up."

"Yeah, it's like kryptonite," Alec added. "We get near it and everything goes wrong, but we still have to try."

Max nodded. "I know you don't exactly like it, Logan, but the place is insured and we need to raise the cash really fast."

"I know – always the over-insured and bad guys. Just… stealing, Max? You're better than that," Logan said quietly. "But if you guys are making this a really big score, then you'd better make sure that this works, or…"

"I'll call Sam – see if she can come down for a couple of days," Max said.

Alec smiled. "She'll love that."

"Hey, it's her ass too. If White does dose everyone, she'll be at big a risk as everyone else."

Alec realized something, looking over his shoulder as Sam and Dean came into living room. "Hey, do I get an alibi this time as well? 'Cause the 'running across town after having a screaming match with your sister' is exhausting."

"You'd have to ask him," John said as he wandered into the kitchen. "And be nice about it."

"Do you think he'd be up for it?" Alec replied.

John shrugged. "Might be. He has little else to do right now."

Alec grinned. "Great."

"That don't mean that you get to do what you want!" John said. "He's your brother, not your 'get out of jail free' card."

"Hey, would I use him like that?" Alec asked.

John raised an eyebrow. "If you try it, watch it, because he'll do the same to you."

Alec wasn't sure how to take that. "What?"

"Don't underestimate him, people tend to, and more fool them," John said, leaving the room. "Just because he's not like you guys, don't think he ain't capable of causing as much trouble as you."

"Did he say what I think he just said?" Alec asked the other two.

Max and Logan nodded their response.

* * *

Rhesa - just to let you know another chapter of Isn't it surprising is also up as well. - hope you enjoy it.


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer- see earlier chapters

Hello people - hope you are still reading this, if not I can't blame you as it has taken a whole to get up, no excuse really.

But in case I don't get anymore up before the end of 2007 (which is most probable) - have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

* * *

Sam wandered down the corridor to Molly's apartment – thanks to the ID that they had gotten he could get out by himself, even if it was just to drop off the books Logan had lent him; he needed to stretch his legs. Also, if he dropped them off at Molly's he could use it as an excuse to get another look at the research she had been doing to try to find the demon.

He banged on the door a couple of times and waited for an answer, but no-one was home. He wandered down to Cindy's place figuring he could drop off the books, then finally go and explore this 'new' Seattle by himself – something he really had not had a chance to do as he had been stuck with his brother or Jo since he had arrived.

"Hi, Cindy, are you in?" he yelled. He could hear rustling behind the door though it didn't open. "Hey, Cindy?"

The door opened a crack. "Go away!"

Sam was confused. "Gem, what you doing here?"

"Go away." She hesitated for a second. "Please."

"Is Cindy here?" Sam asked as Gem tried to close the door.

Gem closed her eyes as she shook her head. "She had to go out. I'll tell her you called."

She went to shut the door but Sam stuck his foot in it. "Gem, you all right?"

"I'm fine, as I said I'll tell her you called," she said abruptly.

"Look, I was just hoping to drop some books off that Logan lent me with Molly, but she isn't in, any chance I can drop them off here?" Sam asked, looking at the girl. He could tell that something wasn't right.

Gem grabbed the books out of his hands. "I'll get her to pass them on. Thanks."

She slammed the door in his face and Sam stood there for a few seconds, stunned. He was unsure what to do for a moment. He took a breath and stuck his hand in his pocket, thinking Cindy was going to kill him for it, but he took out his lock pick and proceeded to open the door.

The room was dark and he could see a bundle of blankets strewn on the couch, obviously, where Gem had been curled up before he had disturbed her, but no Gem. He could hear water running in the bathroom.

"Gem?" Sam called out as he knocked on the bathroom door. There was no response. "Gem, are you okay?"

He could hear that she had turned up the water in the shower. From what Dean had said about when Alec had started to seize, it hadn't been a pretty sight. Maybe it wasn't a good idea for the girl to be alone right now.

"Gem, I think I know what is wrong; maybe I can help?" Sam offered, scanning the room to see if he could see a bottle of those supplements that he had been told about.

The water stopped and he could hear Gem coming to the door. She didn't open it "Why would you do that?"

Sam was a little surprised. She definitely wasn't right; why wouldn't she expect him to help? "You're my friend and that's what friends do – help each other when they need it."

She didn't answer, and he couldn't see any pills. '_Great. Where the hell could they be?'_ Sam thought as he walked over to the phone and picked it up.

Gem opened the bathroom door a crack. "You would do that? Help me?"

"Sure," Sam replied, trying to remember the number of anyone who could swing by with a bottle of those pills.

"You wouldn't claim or judge me, or anything?" She looked at him through the small gap "You wouldn't just help to brag about it later?"

Sam turned to face the door. '_Great, she wasn't making any sense; did that mean she was going to start seizing at any minute?' _Sam thought, "Why would I do that?"

She took a step out of the room. "Some do. This is not my fault, not any of our faults, but some of your kind of try to… to take advantage."

He didn't know what to say. How fucked up was the place that the transgenics came from? "I just want to help, okay? Nothing more."

She hesitated for a second and bit her lip, before shaking her head,"No, you go – get out!"

"Gem?" he said as she slammed the bathroom door.

* * *

Aimee Winchester was a child on a mission – she had her objective, her mark, and a couple of strategies to get toward her goal (be cute first and then tantrum if need be). Yes, it was small, but she was two years old and you had to start somewhere.

Enemy forces were gone and so, if she played this smart, she would have a clear run. Mommy was out, so was Grandma and Grandpa (though he found it funny – said it just proved that she was her father's daughter). Joshua and Auntie Max both knew she was not allowed, and as for Daddy, he was an enemy when it came to this, except when he was dropping her off at Uncle Logan's to be watched, then he was an ally.

"Come on kid, eat!" Jo said as she tried to force the mash potato into Aimee's mouth without much luck.

Dean let out a laugh as Aimee slapped the spoon from Jo's hand, sending it to the floor.

Jo turned to Dean. "You're not helping."

"Hey, you were the one that volunteered to baby-sit, not me," Dean said as Aimee let out a little giggle.

"Okay, that is creepy," Jo said, turning from the grinning Aimee to Dean, "I swear, sometimes, it's like looking at a miniature version you in a dress."

"Definitely, can't pin the blame on me for her," Dean protested, "Anyway; remind me why you said to Molly that you'd look after her?"

"Molly said she wouldn't be long," Jo said, turning to the baby again. "I thought she'd be back by now."

"You said you'd take care of her kid for the whole morning – Molly said it herself, she's got a tonne of stuff to do," Dean said, trying to hide his amusement at Jo's lack of babysitting skills.

"Where's Sam?" Jo asked, hoping that someone else could take over, especially as Dean was refusing to help and John and Ellen were out.

"Don't know – been out since before Molly dropped Aimee off."

"Why won't she eat?" Jo asked as she got another spoon from the drawer.

"First, you've been at this for about half an hour – that gunk is cold – and second, you're treating her like she's a baby. She's two, that means she's got teeth and wants something better than tasteless mush, and she doesn't need someone to go aeroplane to make her open her mouth."

Jo's shoulders fell as Aimee gave her uncle a smile. She liked him, he was like Daddy; not that she'd ever mix them up, who could? Uncle Dean smelt different from Daddy. Uncle Dean's smell reminded Aimee of lots of different things like the ground in park after it rained, the seats in mommy's broom broom and it was a tiny bit like Grandpa's hands when he fixed Uncle Logan's 'beat up, put upon, should be taken out and buried if it gets shot up one more time' old van. Nope Uncle Dean's smell wasn't like Daddy's smell at all. Also, Uncle Dean wasn't as smart as Daddy was on some things, but that wasn't his fault, he was new and he could be trained.

Uncle Sammy, she wasn't sure of yet, sometimes he seemed nervous about her, like she was going to break when he picked her up, but, sometimes he didn't, grandma said he was the same with mommy when she was little. Aimee thought that him being nervous about her was silly, because she was a big girl now and it wasn't as if Joshua had any problems playing with her and he was bigger than Uncle Sammy and as for Auntie Jo, she was okay, Aimee supposed. Grandma liked her and she was being nicer to Grandpa now, but she still snapped at him now and again.

"How do you know what she wants?" Jo asked Dean.

"Who do you think fed Sam at that age?" Dean replied, "Think he would have starved if it wasn't for soggy cookies and mashed up cheeseburgers."

"So, what do I feed her?" Jo asked.

Dean shook his head. "No, I've done my time, and you said you'd look after her, not me."

Jo looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Oh, for crying out loud, how the hell did you think that you could survive a hunt on your own, Jo, if you get bested by a baby?" Dean asked.

Jo huffed. "Well, Mr Know-it-all, last time I checked the idea was to kill hell spawn, not to get it to be still while you change its diaper."

"There are some strange things out there so you can tell when diapering skills come in handy," Dean joked.

Jo glowered at Dean for a second as he headed to the fridge.

"Here try this," Dean said as he handed her a tub of leftovers, Aimee looked intently at it, though her little face fell when Jo presented her with the peas and carrots. It was close, but not what she wanted.

"Nope, no good. What else have you got?" Jo asked as Dean searched for something else. The phone rang in the other room.

"Here, try this," he said, randomly picking up another tub of leftovers and handing them to Jo.

Jo looked inside the tub as Dean went to get the phone. "You sure about this?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine. Heat it up and hope that she takes it," Dean replied.

Aimee grinned at her aunt.

Molly sighed as she got into the house; she hadn't gotten everything done she had needed to, but at least she had run one or two errands that morning. She and Eve arrived just in time to see Aimee greedily eating the last of the meal.

"Please don't tell me that was the last of Mom's chilli?" Molly asked as Jo gave the child the last spoonful.

Jo didn't know what to say. "It was the only thing that she'd take. Did I do something wrong? Is it going to make her sick or something?"

Aimee grinned at her mommy, swinging her little legs happily in the chair as Molly groaned.

"No, Jo, she'll be fine, but you just got played," Molly said, picking her daughter up and holding the small child at arm's length. "You, young lady, are so staying with Alec tonight, you hearing me?"

"Who is staying with me tonight?" Alec asked as he breezed into the house and immediately stuck his head in the refrigerator

As he looked up, Molly stuck Aimee in his arms and smiled. "She is!"

Alec looked at the little girl for a second and shrugged. "Fine. I'm okay with that, what about you, you happy to stay with me tonight?"

Aimee grinned as she nodded.

"Do, do we want Disney or a Dreamworks production tonight?" Alec asked her.

"But'fly!" Aimee yelled causing Alec to nod his agreement of his daughter's choice of Japanese monster flick.

"Okay, Mothra then, but no shouting 'zilla' at Uncle Mole again, okay?"

"I'll remind you that you agreed to this later, all right?" Molly said as she picked up the bags the five-year-old had brought.

"Thank God you two are back," Dean said as he came back into the room. "Sam's on the line; he's with Gem and she is acting funny, and he can't find those pills."

Alec straightened. "What do you mean 'she is acting funny'?"

"He says she ain't herself, you know? She's locked herself in the bathroom at Cindy's place and keeps either telling him to help her or get out," Dean said nervously. "Seriously, dude, he's not sure what the hell is going on, but he can't find those pills."

Alec swallowed as he handed the little girl to Jo. "Right."

"Alec," Molly said tentatively. "She's at Cindy's and… ehm…"

"Hi, Uncle Alec." Alec turned to see the small figure standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

"You got to be kidding me!" Alec said to Molly. "He isn't stupid enough to…"

"Did you explain it to him?" Molly asked.

Alec shook his head. "Nope. Did you?"

"Alec, you were supposed to tell them!" Molly rolled her eyes. "Now he's over there by himself and has no idea."

"It isn't that bad – it's a normal biological urge."

"And what happened to you and Biggs last time you two reacted to Syl's?"

"Okay, so we went a little too … and we did actually deserve to get thrown in the bay. It isn't like we made a move on her or anyone else that night. Syl's got a mate anyway, we knew that!"

"Right, but it didn't cross either of your minds at any point that you might want to try it on?"

"Technically, I wasn't thinking with my brain at that point."

"When do you?" Molly said, picking up a jacket. "Stay here and tell them!"

Alec huffed. "Why do I have to?"

"Just think of it as a dry run for someone else in a couple of years," Molly said, glancing in the direction of Aimee.

"No!" Alec shook his head. "We've talked about this; she's taking after you, and if not, then it ain't happening until she's thirty-five at least!"

"Alec, tell them, and by the way, Aimee's finished off Mom's chilli," Molly said, smiling as she started for the door.

Alec looked at his daughter and his face fell. "Moll, I'm coming with you, then," he announced. "You're not strong enough to get him out by yourself!"

"Like hell you are. Her landing him in hospital 'cause of what she might do to him I can explain, you killing him to get to her – I can't hide that from Dad," Molly said, pushing Alec back.

"Gem won't break him - she needs him fully functioning!" Alec said, defending himself. "And I wouldn't do anything; she isn't my mate."

"You're still not going!" Molly said as she prepared to leave the house. She looked at Alec for a second. "Think of it as staying here as payback for all the times you fed Aimee up with the stuff and dropped her off at Logan's."

"What the hell is going on?" Dean asked as Molly left the house.

"Aunt Molly is going to try and save Mr Sam," Eve announced. "But it won't work. Don't think Mom will let her, not if she's in her cycle thing, and he said he'd help; I don't know what with, but if he said he'd help then he has to help."

"What?" Jo asked, not sure what the child was saying. "Alec?"

Eve shook her head. "No, Auntie Jo, Uncle Alec's not allowed, 'cause he'll probably try and rip Mr Sam's head off - 'cause boys all want to help." The little girl looked up at Alec, as did Aimee, following her older friend's lead. "Why do boys fight to help with the cycle thing? What is the cycle thing anyway, because mommy goes away to Aunt Cindy's 'cause of it and never tells me why I have to stay with Auntie Molly."

Alec knotted his brow, scratching his head as every set of eyes fell on him. "Eve, sweetie I'm going to let your mom answer your questions when she gets back, all right?"

The little girl shrugged and wandered out of the kitchen, taking Aimee with her. Jo and Dean looked at Alec.

Alec turned to them. "Remind me to get that kid a really big Christmas present this year."

Dean peered at Alec. "What does she mean 'rip his head off'?"

"It's nothing personal – and I wouldn't rip his head off," Alec said, smirking. "Might get a little antsy, but definitely wouldn't rip his head off."

* * *

Sam sat with his back to the bathroom door; Gem was still inside. He could hear the water running again – she was having another shower even though the water must have been absolutely freezing by now. She had come out of the bathroom a couple of times before diving in there again. She had gone from shouting at him to go to begging him to stay. She accused him of just teasing her, had told him that he had to go for his sake because he wouldn't be strong enough to cope and she didn't want to hurt him, to asking if he was up for the challenge, all in the same breath.

All Sam knew for sure was that there was no way in hell he was leaving her alone until someone came who knew what was wrong with her.

He was so happy when the phone rang and it was Dean on the other end.

"Hey, bro, any word about getting those pills to me?" Sam asked. He could hear Dean clear his throat.

"Molly's on the way round to you now," Dean replied. "Sam, where exactly are you, and where is Gem?"

"She's in the shower again. Dude, she won't stay out of the bathroom – what if she goes into a fit or something?" Sam asked with more than a little concern to his voice. "I told her I'd help, but she doesn't seem to believe me."

Sam was sure he could hear a groan from someone standing near his brother. Dean just started sniggering. "You told her you would help?" he asked. "I bet you could."

Sam knotted his brow. _'Great,'_ he thought. _'Dean thinks this is funny_.' "Dean, I'm worried about her."

Sam was sure he could hear scuffling for the phone. He closed his eyes. Why was it he got the feeling that Aimee was acting older than Dean and Alec combined?

"Will you give me that… don't you dare," Sam could hear Alec saying: he seemed to have gotten the phone. "I will kick your ass, you know that, don't you?… please, supersoldier here… no, that is none of your business… go help Jo… I'm not telling you if Max goes through it, and don't think about asking her… On second thoughts ask her and see what she says…I dare you…maybe she would kick your butt…no I am not setting you up…go help Jo…I will explain things to him…well I would if you let me… go help Jo and let me fill him in."

"Alec, is that you?" Sam asked the person on the other end of the phone.

"Sam, did you say that you'd help her?" Alec asked.

Sam was surprised. Why was Alec asking that? "Of course."

"Why the hell did you do that?" Alec replied. "You don't like her do you? 'Cause if you do, fine, but do you?"

"Alec, what are you talking about?" Sam was confused. What did his getting on with Gem have to do with this? Then, a slow realisation hit him about what Alec was asking. "Dude, please! There is something up with the girl."

"Can you pass her the phone?" Alec asked. "Just pass her the phone and get away from the door."

* * *

Gem heard the knock at the door, "Sam, please go away."

"Alec's on the line. He wants to talk to you."

She opened the door slowly, looking at Sam for a second, licking her lips and taking the phone from his hand; she slowly closed the bathroom door.

"Alec?" she said quietly.

"Gem, you okay?" Alec asked.

"Make him go away, please."

"Gem?"

She sank to the floor, phone in her hand, "He smells good Alec, so good."

"Okay I'll take your word on that," Alec replied.

"I'm a bad X-5; I'm a bad, bad X-5."

Alec sighed, "Oh boy, it's hitting you hard, isn't it?"

"Make him go away now or make him help me," Gem begged.

"Gem, you really don't get what your asking do you," Alec said though she didn't respond.

"Pop is going kill me for this," Alec said though Gem really wasn't listening.

After a few minutes she opened the door again and handed Sam the phone; however, this time she took a step out of the room, standing with her back against the bathroom door, watching Sam as he paced the floor as he talked to Alec, just like a cat watching a mouse.

"Right, I've talked to her. Why you couldn't have just left her when she told you to, I don't know, but now she's too far gone," Alec said to Sam, before he yelled something at someone in the room he was in – probably Dean – and Sam was sure that it sounded like, "No, it is not pimping him out."

"Too far gone?" Sam repeated.

Alec sighed. "Yeah, she was at Cindy's for some peace, to get through it without having to deal with anyone else, but you had to go screw that up and there is no telling what will happen now. I don't think Gem deals with it too well, but I'm not stupid enough to ask, and Molly is probably not going to be able to help keep her in.

"So, you come around," Sam said as Gem continued to watch him.

"You DON'T want that, trust me!" Alec said firmly. "Sam, you don't have a heart condition or anything, do you?"

'_Okay, Alec was getting stupid now_,' Sam thought. "No, but…"

"And you like the girl? You think of her as a friend, don't you?" Alec asked.

"Sure."

"Do you think she's pretty? Or that you could think that…?"

"Dude, what the…?" Sam asked almost yelling down the phone.

"She's in heat, you moron. You were stupid enough to get in the way of a female in heat and then tell her that you'd help her!" Alec said, cutting Sam off. "You are just lucky that you are still standing right now, or that there aren't any other guys around. So, unless you got some way of restraining her, you'll have to put your money where your mouth is and do what you told her you'd do. Because, if she ends up going out to the street to look for some action, I will personally make it my mission to kick your ass back to the time you came from; 'cause blood family or not, I care a damn sight more about her than you."

Sam looked over at Gem, who was breathing a little heavier. "Alec, you are not making any sense, and if you are so worried, then you come over here."

"For crying out loud, Sam, I told you she is in heat! So, you definitely don't want me around there."

"What?" Sam asked as Gem slowly moved toward him.

"Dogs, cats, people with DNA that isn't suppose to be there; are you getting me, or are you are as stupid as your brother is? Because I can't come around there to draw another set of diagrams."

"Dogs and cats?" Sam said.

"Yeah, dude Just take her lead, and if she gets too rough, tell her to slow down; she'll listen as long as she knows she'll get what she wants in the end."

"Dogs and cats?" Sam repeated, and Alec just sighed. "Alec, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Great, you guys don't do euphemisms too well, do you?" Alec asked rhetorically. "Okay, here it is – she has too much feline DNA, and now without the hormones they used to give us, it comes out. She wants to have some adult-rated variety fun. So, dude, good luck, 'cause you are about to get a ride that most ordinary guys can only dream about."

"You can't be serious!" Sam said to Alec while looking at Gem, who was slowly advancing.

"Oh yes, congratulations, you are about to experience one of the rarest things known to man as they didn't make a lot of those girls. Tell her I'll call off the troops, and I'll see you in a couple of days."

"You're joking, right?" Sam said.

"No, I'm not – you go have sex with the pretty girl and for God's sake don't bite her."

"Alec!" Sam yelled down the phone as Gem pulled it out of his hand.

Sam swallowed. "Gem, I…"

"You said you'd help," Gem said.

"You don't want this, really you don't want this. Well, you might, but not with me 'cause girls I like in that way tend to end up… well, its not good," Sam said, back-pedalling. Was it suddenly getting warm?

She frowned slightly. "You don't like me?"

"No, I like you, but it's just… you're my friend. I'm not saying that I couldn't like you like that, it's just… you're cute and sweet and all," Sam said. She was close enough for him to feel her breath on his skin.

"Friends are good, friends help out friends, don't they?" she replied. "Nothing weird if you don't want, just friends helping out friends."

"Yeah, but you could get hurt and I don't want that, Gem. Last thing I want is you to get hurt, and you're not yourself."

She smiled. "You won't hurt me, and as for not being myself, I'm more myself than I've been in a long time."

She kissed him; it took, a lot longer than it would if he was an X series, but the pheromones she was giving off were starting to get to him as he kissed her back.

* * *

Alec shook his head as he got off the phone with Molly who had been halfway there when he'd called her; she wasn't exactly happy about it, but there was little else she could say.

Dean came scuttling back into the living room away from where Jo was trying to change Aimee's diaper. "That ain't natural!"

"Can someone help me, please?" Jo yelled. "It just won't stop."

Alec rolled his eyes. There was a good reason that they tried to keep Aimee away from anything spicy - it didn't seem to make the child sick, in fact she loved the stuff, but thanks to the hyped up metabolism she'd inherited from her father, it was just that it didn't seem to stay in her for too long.

Dean took a step away from the room that Jo was in. "You fed it to her, you clean her up!"

* * *

Cindy threw the door open and stormed inside the house, closely followed by Max.

"If they break anything, I'm blaming you!" she said.

Dean gave her an innocent look. "What did I do?"

"I'm telling you that if anything in my home ain't the way it was before, you're paying for it," Cindy said pointing straight at Dean.

"Who's paying for what?" Alec asked as he came into the room. Jo sniggered.

"I don't care which one of the two of you it is, but one of you two is paying," Cindy said, throwing down her coat.

"Don't you have insurance?" Jo asked causing all of the others to look at her.

"Where do you think you are, girl?" Cindy asked.

Max gave a little smile. "Anyway, what would she put on the form?"

"Don't think heat-addled transgenic would cut it, then?" Alec said with a smile on his face.

"Well, you could always stop giving the girls a place to stay when it hits," Molly said to Cindy.

"You're the one running the babysitting service next door," Cindy replied as Max held back the giggles. "Don't, Max, don't you dare – I know who was responsible for my coffee table and my window last time you got an itch."

Max looked at her friend, as did Alec, as Cindy continued. "Oh yeah, I know all about the little '_don't you get any ideas_'and'_we're only doing this 'cause it's an emergency and we need to get our heads straight_' arrangement that some people got going on, and that Logan knows all about."

"Logan knows?" Max asked.

"Sweetie, Normal knows, and you know how quick on the uptake that man is," Cindy replied. "Logan ain't stupid, Boo, hell, none of us are. We all know what's been going down."

Alec swallowed. "I think Little Mole needs changing."

"Oh yeah, run! But this ain't over!" Cindy said as Alec left the room.

"You know you're free to stay at mine till they're done," Molly said.

Cindy slumped into one of the armchairs. "Three days on your excuse of a couch, no thanks. I've got a sister or two that will put me up for the duration."

Dean knotted his brow. "Three days?"

"It won't be that long," Max replied.

Molly looked at her friends. "You sure of that?"

"Yeah, Boo, do you know when that girl last let her inner kitty cat get scratched?" Cindy asked.

"Hell, I don't know," Max replied.

"Hope she'd let him get some sleep," Molly added. "She'll let him sleep, won't she?"

"She ain't got any of Jaws' DNA in her?" Cindy asked.

Max shrugged. "I'm not sure; I don't think she has any shark."

"You guys aren't saying that she expects him to last three days?" Dean asked cagily.

"You can't mean that it'll last for three whole days?" Jo asked, not sure if she could believe what she was hearing.

"What lasts three days?" John asked as he and Ellen walked into the house.

Alec coughed as he stood in the doorway at the other end of the living room, bouncing Aimee. "Well, it's kind of like this – Sam, he won't be around for a while."

"He got in the way of Gem," Molly added, "… in heat."

"And he didn't know?" Ellen asked.

Alec shook his head. "No ma'am. I was planning on getting around to telling them."

John opened his mouth to speak but was abruptly cut off by his wife.

"Don't you say a word, John Winchester."

"I wasn't going to say anything," John lied.

Ellen looked at Alec. "Is he going to be all right?"

"Well, I think so. I think he got the gist of the situation when I tried to explain it over the phone to him."

"Yeah, Sam was always quick on the uptake, but if he didn't I'm sure she'll show him what to do," Dean said with a small smirk on his face.

"This isn't funny, boy," Ellen said before turning to her husband.

"What do you want me to do?" John asked. "I'm sure if he wanted out of it someone would be over there right now."

"Oh, sure they would. What if it was the males that went through it? What if it had been one of the girls that had walked into something like this?" Ellen said to her husband, trying to make her point.

John knotted his brow. "In a round about way it did, remember?"

Aimee let out a little gurgle, making herself known.

"You wouldn't let me shoot him!" John reminded his wife as Alec looked at the floor.


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer - Please see earlier chapters

Hi folks it's me again, I know it has been a while but I thought I'd get this up, hope you like it and I swear I will get back to the actual plot soon.

* * *

Sam rolled over to find Gem sound asleep; he quietly got up and went to the kitchen.

He had just got a glass of water when he heard someone behind him; he turned around to see her in the doorway. She was watching him, though not moving any closer.

He swallowed, not sure what to say to her. "Do you want a glass?"

She nodded before going to the front door, opening it and picking up a small package that had been left there.

Sam knotted his brow. "How did you know that was there?"

"They dropped it off yesterday," she answered, moving over to the table. "Heard them when we were in the…"

"Oh, right," Sam said, cutting off her sentence, moving over to the table to hand her a glass.

"Thanks," she said as she took it, putting it on the table before turning her attention to the package, opening it to find some clothes for both of them, as well as some other bits and pieces, and an angry note from Cindy.

She opened the pack of pills that someone had put in and took one out, taking it with a sip of water.

Sam watched her actions, not sure if he should ask about it.

She gave him a small smile. "Don't worry, I'm not about to jump you again."

"Right," Sam replied. "Are you all right now?"

She shrugged. "Tail end, but I'll be fine now if you're worried."

"So, what was that you took?" he asked, sitting down beside her on Cindy's couch.

"What do you think?" she asked, handing him the packaging for the pills she had taken.

He looked at the box, staring at it in silence for a second. "They drop these off? They plan ahead, don't they?"

"If you can't plan ahead – damage control," she said in a dignified, but firm, tone. "Don't worry; , no- one is going to be calling you Daddy anytime soon."

"Okay," Sam replied, carefully handing back the emergency contraception. "You go through this a lot then? This 'heat' thing?"

She answered hesitantly. "Two, three times a year."

"That must make life interesting, then," Sam said, trying to lighten the mood.

It was then she caught sight onf the bruises on his arm. "Oh, I'm sorry!"

Sam looked at his shoulder. Truth was that was the least of the pain he was in. "Don't sweat it; you said sorry when it happened."

She tentatively put out a hand, stopping short on touching the mark that had begun to go purple. "I should have been more careful, the others say you have to be careful."

"More careful?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you saying you held back?"

She looked away. "It's just… I almost broke you."

Sam tried to take in what she was saying.

"You're not used to us. I didn't mean to hurt you; I tried to be gentle," she said sincerely.

Sam sat there. Yes, he was in pain, but he felt vaguely insulted. True, he didn't really understand the reason behind what had just happened, but he had never had a girl turn around to him and say that. He may not have had Dean's experience, but he'd never had any complaints.

"I'm sorry if you felt you couldn't let yourself go," Sam said, not realising he had said that a little harshly.

"No, it's not like that," she said, trying to bolster his bruised ego. "You were good, really. I think it's just… well, I've never been… and the others say you have to be…" She took a breath. "Some ordinaries wouldn't be able to stand what we spent the past couple of days doing, and you're still able to walk. It's just that heat can be dangerous to males, in a manner of speaking."

"What do mean 'it's dangerous to males'?" Sam asked.

"Us females – well, we give off pheromones; we don't mean to, but we do. The males, they can't help it, they react. It makes them want to prove themselves. They push themselves to the limit sometimes doing stuff that they would never think about doing just so we'd then pick one of them. As for us girls it,… well, you saw it, it can…if we're not careful… it makes us… ,go primal,," Gem explained, looking ashamed.

"Primal?" Sam asked. "That is what you call it?"

She blushed slightly. "Yes."

"Personally, I'd say that was a perfectly normal way to have sex," he said jokingly, trying to reassure her.

"Really?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "So you're used to seeing your pants go flying past on a hover drone?"

"Is that what those things are called?" Sam replied, glancing out the window for a second before turning back to her. "You know, you really didn't have to throw them out the window."

"There's a spare pair in the stuff they sent over."

Sam turned a bright shade of red. "Please say that that is the damage control thing, and that no-oneno one else saw them flying down the street."

"I can tell them that you've got nothing to be ashamed of, if you want?" Gem said with a little smirk.

"Thanks," Sam said, letting out a little laugh, reaching down for the glass he had put on the table and accidentally brushing his hand against hers.

She pulled away quick, her skin flushed, . "Sorry."

"Gem?" Sam asked.

She stood up, holding the front of the dressing gown she was wearing closed. "I'm going to..."

"Gem?" Sam said. "It's all right. I can go if you need me to or want me to."

"No." She shook her head. "This is my problem not yours."

"Gem, it really is all right," Sam said, deciding on something as the pheromones started to fill the air. He put out his hand. "I need to know that you are all right with this, that you want this?"

"Sam?"

He cocked his head to the side. "Look, I put you in this position; you would have just stayed indoors and not done anything if I hadn't come blundering in, right?"

Gem gave him a little nod. "But…"

"I'm not saying that this is the way I would have liked this to play out – not that I really understand what is going on with you – but I usually like to take my time, get to know a girl," Sam said. "But, as you said, friends help friends out, and I'm your friend."

She bit her lip, taking his hand as she sat down. "Sam, I…"

He gently kissed her. "You know you don't have to hold back. I can take primal if you really need it."

"Sam," she said, slightly breathless, as he worked little kisses down her neck until he reached her collarbone. He made a growling sound in the back of his throat causing it to vibrate against her skin.

She purred back before she pushed him off the couch and onto the coffee table, sending the glasses that had been sitting there flying to the floor.

She straddled him for a second, before he flipped her, reversing their positions; for some reason this seemed to get her more excited, his show of dominance. She snapped at him, baiting him, nipping at his skin, although not breaking it; it was enough to mark him as hers for a little while.

He responded in kind – not sure what he was doing, just knowing that she was liking it. It took almost everything he had ever learned to keep up, not to be floored by her speed or her strength, to keep her in that one spot.

It was about then that the legs of the table buckled, sending them to the floor.

"Jesus!" said the shocked Sam.

"Who cares?" Gem purred as she pulled him back down on top of her.

"Right," Sam said. "We can get her a new one."

* * *

The house was quiet when Sam crawled in, through crawling wasn't exactly what he was doing, but he wasn't walking with his usual stride. All he wanted was a drink before hitting the sack, for sleep and only sleep, no questions or explanations.

At that point, Sam Winchester would be quite happy to find the nearest monastery and dedicated his life to any god that would promise him that he would never have to do anything like that again.

Sam closed the refrigerator door and almost jumped out of his skin; well, he would have if he had the energy.

"CHRIST!" Sam said as he saw Dean standing next to him, a large grin plastered onto his face.

"Close, but good guess anyway," Dean said as Sam stood there waiting for his brother to move out of his way.

"So, you gonna tell your big brother what you've been up to for the past couple of days?" Dean asked, not moving.

Sam sighed, guessing that he was not getting out of this; he straightened up and walked over to the table, followed by Dean.

"So spill, bro – don't leave out anything!" Dean said, still smiling as Sam took a drink.

"You're a pig, you know that?"

"Hey, I'm a guy," Dean said in his own defence, causing Sam to roll his eyes as he sat down.

"So?" Dean asked.

"I just want to hit the sack, dude."

"Oh, come on," Dean said.

Sam peered at his brother. "You are a bastard, you know that?"

"Hey, don't blame me. I didn't know. Could have just as easily been me that walked into it," Dean said, defending himself.

"Glad I could run interference for you," Sam replied.

"I was all for getting you out of there, but I was out voted."

Sam raised an eyebrow causing Dean to cough, . "Okay, I didn't really say that we should go and get you, but I did say it might be an idea."

"Thanks for the concern," Sam retorted.

"For crying out loud, Sam, was that girl doing it wrong, or did you have that much of a backlog?" Dean said sarcastically. "'Cause you still sound like you need to get laid."

"She didn't do anything wrong," Sam snapped back, wanting his brother to leave him alone.

"That's my boy!" Dean grinned, slapping his brother on the back. Sam dropped the bottle in his hand, biting his lip trying not to scream.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Dean said, getting up and walking around to the back of Sam; he gently pulled up the back of his brother's shirt. "Holy shit, Sam, did she use you as a scratching post or something?"

"It was my fault really; she told me that she was going to be gentle."

"Right," Dean replied. "And you,- being such a gentleman, told her not to hold back? Jesus, Sam, they're at least as twice as strong as you."

"She said she was sorry, thought I'd heal faster," Sam replied as his brother went for a first-aid kit.

"Let me guess, she never been with an 'ordinary' before?"

Sam shook his head.

"The two of you kind of lost your cherry then?" Dean pushed Sam's shirt up a little further to get a better look as the myriad of scratches and bruises that Gem had left.

Sam didn't bother replying to Dean's comment.

"So, are there any other differences?" Dean asked.

"What?"

Dean picked up some antiseptic. "You know, anything different – anatomical and such?"

"You are disgusting, you know that, Dean? She couldn't help what happened," Sam said.

"You know, that is almost exactly what Alec said when I asked," Dean said. "Okay, he was a little less polite about it."

"As for what happened between me and Gem, that is our business."

"And Cindy's," Dean added.

"Cindy's?"

"Sure – she was saying something about how if you two had broken anything she'd be – how did she put it? '_OC will personally come over and make sure he won't be scratching any itches for a long time to come,'_" Dean said with a smile on his face.

"Great," Sam said as his brother sat down again.

"Just don't tell me that you broke her stuff," Dean said.

Sam blushed. "Why?"

"Oh, Sammy, you didn't, did you?" Dean let out a little laugh as Sam looked sheepish. "You're the second member of this family to do that when they've, been doing, that."

Sam looked confused.

Dean smiled. "At least you didn't end up leaving her place by a window."

Sam was confused. "She lives on the sixth floor."

Dean nodded. "He said there was an emergency situation and he had to get out quick."

"Emergency situation?"

"Yeah, Cindy came home early," Dean said, smirking, "So, you not going to spill, huh?"

"I just want to sleep."

"Okay, but Sam, go but go take a shower or something first."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Look, it's not for me – I'm used to your stink, but just in case Dalton comes around."

"Who?" Sam was confused.

"You know – Dalton – one of the kids that was helping out with the painting," Dean explained. "Look, the way Alec explains it, it's their animal side just coming out. Girls of his kind go into season: this 'heat'. The ones with boyfriends, it's fine for them, couple holes up for a few days until it passes. The girls without, they have their own way of dealing. Some use a buddy system; you know, find a pal who'll help them out. Others hide 'till it passes, 'cause the guys, they react to the girls. Remember when we first met Alec, the first night we got here?"

"Yeah, he made a crack toward Jo," Sam said.

Dean nodded. "Two girls had gone into it, and he'd got a sniff, but they had boyfriends. Usually, he'd go out and enjoy himself in some other way, but he found out about us and swung by here instead.

"So?"

"In his head, at that point, Jo was someone new he could play with – he'd already been there with Molly," Dean explained. "But he backed down, remember?"

"Yeah, he said something about 'prior claims'," Sam replied. "You don't think he meant one of us and Jo?"

"Exactly," Dean said. "It's like Animal Planet. Guys strut their stuff and girls choose; you , tiger, were the fittest candidate that crossed Gem's path – well, you were the only one that crossed her path."

Sam sat there silently as Dean continued. "Mole's people lay eggs, and they got fish people that spawn – how freaky is that? I'm guessing the first time that actually happened, one hell of a surprise for that girl, or thing, or whatever."

"What has that got to do with me having a shower?"

"They got enhanced senses, right – the X's and other felines – and no offence, dude, to them you stink of her," Dean said. "And Dalton, well, he's kind of like her kid brother. Nothing kinky, they escaped together. But the kid is getting older, growing up all alpha-like, might not like it if you advertise what you and her have been getting up to in the past couple of days. Especially if he doesn't think you're good enough for her."

Sam sighed.

Dean continued. "Look, it isn't your fault, but she's an X5. It's like the best of the best or something, and to them you're kinda like a beta."

"I'm a what?" Sam said.

"Sure, I got it all explained to me. Alec is like an alpha round here; pretty obvious with my genes the guy isn't going to be anything else. But, I've been wondering, does that mean that on some level he's my kid? 'Cause I know genetically speaking he's Dad's son, but without me he wouldn't be here, and if that's the case does that make Little Mole my grandkid? 'Cause, you know, she could do worse, but I'm really not ready to be doing the sitting on the porch handing out advice thing."

Sam rubbed his eyes. "Dean, get back to the point."

"Right, Dalton's growing up all alpha; might not like the fact that you went there with his sister." Dean broke out in a grin. "But don't worry, I'll protect you."

"What?"

"Well, Dad's the old alpha dog – done his time; I'm oldest, so I'm the alpha around here," Dean said. "You're the beta 'cause they're not sure what you can do yet."

"What?"

"It's not you, but to them, you're kind of untested."

"So, what you're really saying is that 'cause you went rolling in the mud with Alec they trust you more."

Dean shrugged. "If you want to put it that way, then, sure."

"Dean, where did you get this shit from?" Sam asked. "'Because I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that. Alpha and beta are personality types, not anything else."

"That isn't what Normal and Sketchy told me."

"Normal and Sketchy?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "The twin founts of all knowledge?"

"Hey, they're all right, a little odd but all right, and I needed something to do while you were busy."

"You have a good time?" Sam asked.

Dean grinned. "Yeah, you could say that. Went out with Alec and the guys; showed me a couple places they hung out, introduced me to something called 'two-fers'"

"Happy hour?" Sam asked.

Dean grinned. "It was a very happy hour, especially when you get two at the same time – Sketchy swears by it."

"They took you to a strip club, didn't they?" Sam asked. "You guys enjoy your night out?"

"Oh, come on, Sam," Dean said. "Look, I was bored, and to be honest you were more than a little occupied."

"Right," Sam replied. "It's just… sometimes with you and Alec, I feel a little left out."

"Don't mean to," Dean said. "And I didn't ask to get my butt kidnapped by a snake-worshipping demon cult, did I?"

"Suppose not," Sam replied.

"Anyway, if you want to look at it in another way, not counting that nineteen year dry spell, you've been getting more action than me lately – and that is wrong on so many levels."

Sam gave a little smile. "You have been a little quiet lately. Suppose if you didn't get out pretty soon you'd be dry humping the furniture."

"Hey!"

"I'm just asking if the guys thought they'd better get you out the house before you started eyeing up Dad and Ellen's couch."

"You know, I should feel more insulted by that," Dean retorted. "Anyway, I'm getting the feeling that I'm getting buttered up for something."

"Any idea what?"

"Not yet." Dean shrugged. "So, you and Gem? What's the story?"

Sam looked at the table. "I don't know."

"Right," Dean said, not believing his brother. "Even if you don't know what you want to do about her, you do want to head off trouble with her little brother – the really strong and well trained little brother, that is. So, call the girl to tell her where your head is at."

"Not sure even doing that would be a good idea."

"Have you had a vision or dream or something?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head. "Not since we woke up in the cabin."

"Well then, there you go!" Dean said. "Nothing to worry about."

"Dean, the girls that I spend time with have a nasty habit of ending up dead."

"Yeah, but you get a newsflash before it happens."

"Who's to say that since we've got here things haven't changed? What if I don't get them anymore and the Demon is still around?" Sam said. "He isn't going to give a damn about the fact that I spent…"

"A couple of days rutting like wild animals."

"Sketchy?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, if the Demon is still around, he's not going to care that the only reason that me and Gem were together was because she has a weird imbalance that causes her to kick out a chemical that any guy nearby reacts to."

"Any guy?" Dean asked. "Thought it was just the ones that were the same as her?"

Sam shook his head. "Trust me, it gets to you. If I had been thinking straight I…"

Dean sighed. "Look, Sam, she ain't Jess, she ain't Amelia, and neither of them was your fault."

"I just don't want to see her get hurt, that's all," Sam replied, still looking at the table.

"Sam, it was is just sex," Dean said, . "Unless there is something else?"

Sam just peered at his brother. "Dean, please, the girl is our friend. She needed a favor, and I helped her out; she doesn't deserve to be caught up in our shit."

"Right, it was a favor," Dean said. "She say how she's going to pay you back?"

Sam rolled his eyes, not responding to his brother.

Dean shook his head. "Sam, have a shower before you hit the sack, will you?"

Sam got up to walk out as Ellen came into the room. "So, you back, then?"

Sam swallowed, slightly uncomfortable under Ellen's glare. "Yes."

"You all right? Not strained anything?"

"Not you, too," Sam said.

Ellen raised an eyebrow as Dean held back a snigger.

"I'm going to hit the sack," Sam said as he started out of the room.

"Sam, come here," Ellen said firmly.

"What?" Sam asked, turning to his stepmother.

She pulled down the collar of his shirt to get a better look at his neck.

"What?" Sam asked as he tried to get away from her.

Ellen took a second, as she checked to see that Sam hadn't gotten himself mated accidentally, before saying anything. "Nothing."

"Right, can I go now?" Sam asked. "I'm beat."

Ellen nodded. "Sam, have a shower first."

"Already told him that," Dean said as Sam rolled his eyes.

Sam stopped. "Dean, how do you know they are at least twice as strong as us?"

Ellen gave Dean a wry smile. "You not tell him?"

Dean looked a little sheepish.

"Tell me what?"

"It's nothing," Dean replied, pouting slightly.

"He couldn't get into the peanut butter," Ellen said to Sam.

"So?"

"Eve could," Ellen said, causing Sam to chuckle.

"I loosened it for the kid," Dean said as he got up and went to the refrigerator. "Hey, Sam, catch."

Sam turned as Dean threw something at him; Sam looked down to see a bag of ice in his hands.

Dean smiled. "Thought you might need that, dude."

Sam muttered something under his breath at his brother, before turning to head toward the bathroom, taking the bag of ice with him.

* * *

Alec banged on the back door, carefully balancing the box of fresh fruit and vegetables in his other hand. "Hey, anybody in?"

He grumbled as no one answered, and put the box down to get his key, just as Sam opened the door, still groggy from just being woken up.

"Hey there, stranger," Alec said with a smile on his face.

Sam tutted and wandered away. "Don't start."

"Fine, be like that, I just come bearing fruit. I'm the only one around here who has any real idea about what you've been through. Heat can be fun, but personally I could live without it," Alec said as he put down the box and picked up an apple; he sniffed the air. "They told you to take a bath, then?"

"Yes, as soon as I got in," Sam said.

"Gem okay?" Alec asked.

Sam nodded. "She got back to her place."

"Great," Alec said.

"Why?"

"I just want to know I can go over there and see my kid, or if we're still doing pick ups here."

"What?" Sam asked.

Alec took a bite out the apple in his hand. "I'm not going to be on the receiving end of that fire hose again if I don't have to."

"Cindy?" Sam asked.

"Love the girl, but I swear sometimes I'd rather be back at Manticore than deal with her."

Sam smiled at the comment. "Take it other girls spend time there, during this thing?"

"Girls stay at Cindy's, to stay away from temptation, while Molly looks after the kids. Means that the kids are close by if they need their moms for anything," Alec said. "Good arrangement for everybody, except me. I've been hit with that stupid hose more times than I can count."

"So, you get it bad too?" Sam asked. "Gem said something about it being dangerous for you guys."

"Not exactly dangerous, we can get stupid, though," Alec admitted. "You know, just the usual, wanting to humiliate anything with testosterone in a fifty mile radius. Usual macho bullshit."

"How does it work?" Sam asked.

Alec took another bite of his apple. "Different strokes for different folks – each type figured out ground rules for their kind. I know that sounds weird, but up until a couple of years ago it was all new to us too."

"How?"

"Hormones, mixed in with the vitamins they use to give us – Manticore didn't want their precious creations to get outside and leave their DNA about, if you know what I mean. Sure, we could go out and enjoy ourselves on our off time, but we weren't meant to leave any little reminders of ourselves."

"They dosed you?" Sam asked. Alec nodded.

"Better than the alternative – which I am definitely happy they didn't go for – but that would make us too submissive, not aggressive enough," Alec replied, causing to Sam to shift in his chair uncomfortably, thinking about what Alec had meant.

"Hey, you up, bro?" Dean asked as he came into the room.

"Yeah, where is everyone?" Sam asked.

Dean shrugged. "Think Ellen's at work, Dad's somewhere, and as for Jo, think she's up to something but won't tell me."

Alec smiled. "Really, she's up to something?"

"What do you know?" Dean asked.

"Nothing," Alec replied quickly. "So, Sam, she go easy on you?"

"What?" Dean asked. "You seen his back?"

"At least he can still walk," answered Alec. "Not a lot of ordinaries can do that afterward."

"You saying we're delicate?" Dean asked.

Alec grinned. "It's not my fault that I'm the new and improved model. If Gem was gentle with him, then she was gentle, it's no reflection on him. What did you want her to do – break him?"

"Looks like she had a go," Dean replied.

"Guy's in the room," Sam said with a wave of his hand, causing both Alec and Dean to look at him. "Anyway, she said that she wasn't used to ordinaries."

Alec stilled. "Really? Her last time, was her breeding partner?"

Sam nodded, . "Yeah, but she didn't really explain."

"Thought so – but you know, it's one of those things you don't ask."

"Breeding partner?" Dean asked, confused.

Alec took a breath. "Eve's dad. Don't know who the guy is, but even if she said, I get the feeling that Gem wouldn't want him around."

Sam and Dean just sat there, slightly confused, while Alec continued to eat his apple. Finally, Dean spoke up. "What do you mean breeding partner?"

"Last couple of months at Manticore, the DNA database went down, we got new orders."

"What orders?" Dean asked.

"Look, I didn't like it either, and I didn't paired-up until the end. Something about my tendency toward free thought, while being good in the field, could be bad for the gene pool. Anyway, they may have decided that I wasn't going to go the same way as Ben, but they probably didn't want to risk it."

"Alec, what did they order you to do?" Dean asked.

"They paired us off; some of the guys took the order more seriously than the rest of us. But, before we go down that road again, and you two get ideas, I didn't push it."

Dean knotted his brow and repeated, "What did they order you to do?"

"You had to get someone pregnant, didn't you?" Sam said, and Alec nodded.

"There I was, asleep in my bunk, get a flashlight shone in my face and ordered to go to her cell. I wasn't happy about it – she'd been out for ten years, unsupervised; I didn't know what she had. Anyway, she didn't want to, kicked me in the chest when I told her why I was there, like it was my fault."

Sam smiled. "Max. You got assigned Max, didn't you?"

"Wait, are you telling me you got assigned that hot piece of…"

"Don't you go there," Alec said, cutting Dean off.

"If I knew that you could just get assigned someone as hot as her, they wouldn't have had to steal a piece of me – I would have volunteered."

"You seen her in a bad mood yet?" Alec asked.

"No, he hasn't," Sam replied, remembering what it had been like to be on the receiving end of Max's temper when the other two at the table had disappeared.

"So, if you guys are breeding partners, does that mean that she's your wife or something?" Dean asked.

"Oh, definitely; we broke out, headed straight to Vegas and the Elvis impersonator, even took Joshua along as page boy," Alec said with a roll of his eyes.

"Really?" Dean asked mockingly.

"She had a boyfriend on the outside, and I couldn't be bothered with the aggravation of trying to explain that we had orders more than once. So I caught up on some sleep instead, and when it came to confirming that we had, I lied, okay? Not going to tell everyone on the parade ground that I hadn't gotten any."

Dean nodded; he could see the logic behind it.

"She had a boyfriend?" Sam asked. "Logan?"

Alec nodded. "Yep, true love and all that – just like in the fairy stories. Then things change."

"Like what?" Sam asked.

"You don't know?" Alec replied.

Dean and Sam shrugged.

"You two haven't noticed?" Alec said, not believing it. "Seriously?"

"What?" Dean asked.

"How the hell did you two stay alive?" Alec replied. "You haven't noticed."

"What?"

"The gloves?" Alec waited for a response. "The fact that Logan always is wearing those gloves around her?"

Dean shrugged. "Thought the guy was just into latex."

"Oh Christ, Logan in gimp mode – not something I ever want to see or think about, ever," Alec replied.

"So what changed?" Sam asked.

"Maniticore. They gave Max and Logan a virus as a nice little parting gift, not that Maxie wasn't grateful, she went back, took the place down and let everybody out," ." Alec broke out in a grin, . "Funny, thinking on it, all the transgenics that got out that night owe our their freedom on the fact that Manticore stopped Maxie' getting laid."

Sam and Dean looked at Alec, confused as hell, as he continued.

"But the fire, well, that left her and Logan…they're still… you know, but they can't be together. Not that they didn't try. There is only so long they could take it before something would give, and then Maxie would never forgive herself. Then she'd blame me; not that she wouldn't have the right, but I was different person then," Alec said, before cutting himself off. He didn't really want to elaborate more on his part in helping Max to escape so she could deliver the virus to Logan, . "So, now we all have to listen both of them try not to talk about it even though we all know how they feel."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "But, you the way you guys act…and from what Cindy said?"

"That is for emergencies – can't have a meeting with someone when Max is trying to get into their pants, or I want to pound their face for looking at her," Alec replied, before turning to the other Winchester brother at the table, "You saw Gem, Sam, she couldn't help it, none of them can – a quirk of our DNA."

Sam nodded in response as Alec continued, "It isn't fun for us males either; girls just have to go through it once every few months, but us guys, we react to the pheromones they give off, and that can be at any time – you think I like acting like a tomcat if I don't have to?"

"It never stopped him, and he doesn't have that as an excuse," Sam said, nodding in Dean's direction.

"Hey," Dean protested.

"So what if I help Max out? I'm not stupid," Alec said. "If they could, I know that her and Logan would give it a shot, that she'd go running back to the guy. But right now that isn't a possibility, so I make sure she's okay, that she's taken care of, and I don't rub it in Logan's face."

"Yeah, right," Dean said, not believing Alec.

"Think what you like," Alec said, looking at his watch. "I got to blaze anyway, glad to see you back, Sam, and in one piece. If you guys see Ellen, tell her there's her share of the fruit run, and I'll be around at Moll's place later."

"Okay," Sam replied as Alec left. He turned to Dean. "And I thought you were fucked up about relationships."

* * *

** Also if people are interested - also am planning to get the next chapter up for 'Pleased to Meet You' which is the sequel to how John met Alec up in the next few days as well **


	15. Chapter 14

Disclaimer - Please see earlier chapters

Hi folks it's me again, I know it has been a while but I thought I'd get this up, hope you like it and I swear I will get back to the actual plot soon.

* * *

Sam rolled over to find Gem sound asleep; he quietly got up and went to the kitchen.

He had just got a glass of water when he heard someone behind him; he turned around to see her in the doorway. She was watching him, though not moving any closer.

He swallowed, not sure what to say to her. "Do you want a glass?"

She nodded before going to the front door, opening it and picking up a small package that had been left there.

Sam knotted his brow. "How did you know that was there?"

"They dropped it off yesterday," she answered, moving over to the table. "Heard them when we were in the…"

"Oh, right," Sam said, cutting off her sentence, moving over to the table to hand her a glass.

"Thanks," she said as she took it, putting it on the table before turning her attention to the package, opening it to find some clothes for both of them, as well as some other bits and pieces, and an angry note from Cindy.

She opened the pack of pills that someone had put in and took one out, taking it with a sip of water.

Sam watched her actions, not sure if he should ask about it.

She gave him a small smile. "Don't worry, I'm not about to jump you again."

"Right," Sam replied. "Are you all right now?"

She shrugged. "Tail end, but I'll be fine now if you're worried."

"So, what was that you took?" he asked, sitting down beside her on Cindy's couch.

"What do you think?" she asked, handing him the packaging for the pills she had taken.

He looked at the box, staring at it in silence for a second. "They drop these off? They plan ahead, don't they?"

"If you can't plan ahead – damage control," she said in a dignified, but firm, tone. "Don't worry; , no- one is going to be calling you Daddy anytime soon."

"Okay," Sam replied, carefully handing back the emergency contraception. "You go through this a lot then? This 'heat' thing?"

She answered hesitantly. "Two, three times a year."

"That must make life interesting, then," Sam said, trying to lighten the mood.

It was then she caught sight onf the bruises on his arm. "Oh, I'm sorry!"

Sam looked at his shoulder. Truth was that was the least of the pain he was in. "Don't sweat it; you said sorry when it happened."

She tentatively put out a hand, stopping short on touching the mark that had begun to go purple. "I should have been more careful, the others say you have to be careful."

"More careful?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you saying you held back?"

She looked away. "It's just… I almost broke you."

Sam tried to take in what she was saying.

"You're not used to us. I didn't mean to hurt you; I tried to be gentle," she said sincerely.

Sam sat there. Yes, he was in pain, but he felt vaguely insulted. True, he didn't really understand the reason behind what had just happened, but he had never had a girl turn around to him and say that. He may not have had Dean's experience, but he'd never had any complaints.

"I'm sorry if you felt you couldn't let yourself go," Sam said, not realising he had said that a little harshly.

"No, it's not like that," she said, trying to bolster his bruised ego. "You were good, really. I think it's just… well, I've never been… and the others say you have to be…" She took a breath. "Some ordinaries wouldn't be able to stand what we spent the past couple of days doing, and you're still able to walk. It's just that heat can be dangerous to males, in a manner of speaking."

"What do mean 'it's dangerous to males'?" Sam asked.

"Us females – well, we give off pheromones; we don't mean to, but we do. The males, they can't help it, they react. It makes them want to prove themselves. They push themselves to the limit sometimes doing stuff that they would never think about doing just so we'd then pick one of them. As for us girls it,… well, you saw it, it can…if we're not careful… it makes us… ,go primal,," Gem explained, looking ashamed.

"Primal?" Sam asked. "That is what you call it?"

She blushed slightly. "Yes."

"Personally, I'd say that was a perfectly normal way to have sex," he said jokingly, trying to reassure her.

"Really?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "So you're used to seeing your pants go flying past on a hover drone?"

"Is that what those things are called?" Sam replied, glancing out the window for a second before turning back to her. "You know, you really didn't have to throw them out the window."

"There's a spare pair in the stuff they sent over."

Sam turned a bright shade of red. "Please say that that is the damage control thing, and that no-oneno one else saw them flying down the street."

"I can tell them that you've got nothing to be ashamed of, if you want?" Gem said with a little smirk.

"Thanks," Sam said, letting out a little laugh, reaching down for the glass he had put on the table and accidentally brushing his hand against hers.

She pulled away quick, her skin flushed, . "Sorry."

"Gem?" Sam asked.

She stood up, holding the front of the dressing gown she was wearing closed. "I'm going to..."

"Gem?" Sam said. "It's all right. I can go if you need me to or want me to."

"No." She shook her head. "This is my problem not yours."

"Gem, it really is all right," Sam said, deciding on something as the pheromones started to fill the air. He put out his hand. "I need to know that you are all right with this, that you want this?"

"Sam?"

He cocked his head to the side. "Look, I put you in this position; you would have just stayed indoors and not done anything if I hadn't come blundering in, right?"

Gem gave him a little nod. "But…"

"I'm not saying that this is the way I would have liked this to play out – not that I really understand what is going on with you – but I usually like to take my time, get to know a girl," Sam said. "But, as you said, friends help friends out, and I'm your friend."

She bit her lip, taking his hand as she sat down. "Sam, I…"

He gently kissed her. "You know you don't have to hold back. I can take primal if you really need it."

"Sam," she said, slightly breathless, as he worked little kisses down her neck until he reached her collarbone. He made a growling sound in the back of his throat causing it to vibrate against her skin.

She purred back before she pushed him off the couch and onto the coffee table, sending the glasses that had been sitting there flying to the floor.

She straddled him for a second, before he flipped her, reversing their positions; for some reason this seemed to get her more excited, his show of dominance. She snapped at him, baiting him, nipping at his skin, although not breaking it; it was enough to mark him as hers for a little while.

He responded in kind – not sure what he was doing, just knowing that she was liking it. It took almost everything he had ever learned to keep up, not to be floored by her speed or her strength, to keep her in that one spot.

It was about then that the legs of the table buckled, sending them to the floor.

"Jesus!" said the shocked Sam.

"Who cares?" Gem purred as she pulled him back down on top of her.

"Right," Sam said. "We can get her a new one."

* * *

The house was quiet when Sam crawled in, through crawling wasn't exactly what he was doing, but he wasn't walking with his usual stride. All he wanted was a drink before hitting the sack, for sleep and only sleep, no questions or explanations.

At that point, Sam Winchester would be quite happy to find the nearest monastery and dedicated his life to any god that would promise him that he would never have to do anything like that again.

Sam closed the refrigerator door and almost jumped out of his skin; well, he would have if he had the energy.

"CHRIST!" Sam said as he saw Dean standing next to him, a large grin plastered onto his face.

"Close, but good guess anyway," Dean said as Sam stood there waiting for his brother to move out of his way.

"So, you gonna tell your big brother what you've been up to for the past couple of days?" Dean asked, not moving.

Sam sighed, guessing that he was not getting out of this; he straightened up and walked over to the table, followed by Dean.

"So spill, bro – don't leave out anything!" Dean said, still smiling as Sam took a drink.

"You're a pig, you know that?"

"Hey, I'm a guy," Dean said in his own defence, causing Sam to roll his eyes as he sat down.

"So?" Dean asked.

"I just want to hit the sack, dude."

"Oh, come on," Dean said.

Sam peered at his brother. "You are a bastard, you know that?"

"Hey, don't blame me. I didn't know. Could have just as easily been me that walked into it," Dean said, defending himself.

"Glad I could run interference for you," Sam replied.

"I was all for getting you out of there, but I was out voted."

Sam raised an eyebrow causing Dean to cough, . "Okay, I didn't really say that we should go and get you, but I did say it might be an idea."

"Thanks for the concern," Sam retorted.

"For crying out loud, Sam, was that girl doing it wrong, or did you have that much of a backlog?" Dean said sarcastically. "'Cause you still sound like you need to get laid."

"She didn't do anything wrong," Sam snapped back, wanting his brother to leave him alone.

"That's my boy!" Dean grinned, slapping his brother on the back. Sam dropped the bottle in his hand, biting his lip trying not to scream.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Dean said, getting up and walking around to the back of Sam; he gently pulled up the back of his brother's shirt. "Holy shit, Sam, did she use you as a scratching post or something?"

"It was my fault really; she told me that she was going to be gentle."

"Right," Dean replied. "And you,- being such a gentleman, told her not to hold back? Jesus, Sam, they're at least as twice as strong as you."

"She said she was sorry, thought I'd heal faster," Sam replied as his brother went for a first-aid kit.

"Let me guess, she never been with an 'ordinary' before?"

Sam shook his head.

"The two of you kind of lost your cherry then?" Dean pushed Sam's shirt up a little further to get a better look as the myriad of scratches and bruises that Gem had left.

Sam didn't bother replying to Dean's comment.

"So, are there any other differences?" Dean asked.

"What?"

Dean picked up some antiseptic. "You know, anything different – anatomical and such?"

"You are disgusting, you know that, Dean? She couldn't help what happened," Sam said.

"You know, that is almost exactly what Alec said when I asked," Dean said. "Okay, he was a little less polite about it."

"As for what happened between me and Gem, that is our business."

"And Cindy's," Dean added.

"Cindy's?"

"Sure – she was saying something about how if you two had broken anything she'd be – how did she put it? '_OC will personally come over and make sure he won't be scratching any itches for a long time to come,'_" Dean said with a smile on his face.

"Great," Sam said as his brother sat down again.

"Just don't tell me that you broke her stuff," Dean said.

Sam blushed. "Why?"

"Oh, Sammy, you didn't, did you?" Dean let out a little laugh as Sam looked sheepish. "You're the second member of this family to do that when they've, been doing, that."

Sam looked confused.

Dean smiled. "At least you didn't end up leaving her place by a window."

Sam was confused. "She lives on the sixth floor."

Dean nodded. "He said there was an emergency situation and he had to get out quick."

"Emergency situation?"

"Yeah, Cindy came home early," Dean said, smirking, "So, you not going to spill, huh?"

"I just want to sleep."

"Okay, but Sam, go but go take a shower or something first."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Look, it's not for me – I'm used to your stink, but just in case Dalton comes around."

"Who?" Sam was confused.

"You know – Dalton – one of the kids that was helping out with the painting," Dean explained. "Look, the way Alec explains it, it's their animal side just coming out. Girls of his kind go into season: this 'heat'. The ones with boyfriends, it's fine for them, couple holes up for a few days until it passes. The girls without, they have their own way of dealing. Some use a buddy system; you know, find a pal who'll help them out. Others hide 'till it passes, 'cause the guys, they react to the girls. Remember when we first met Alec, the first night we got here?"

"Yeah, he made a crack toward Jo," Sam said.

Dean nodded. "Two girls had gone into it, and he'd got a sniff, but they had boyfriends. Usually, he'd go out and enjoy himself in some other way, but he found out about us and swung by here instead.

"So?"

"In his head, at that point, Jo was someone new he could play with – he'd already been there with Molly," Dean explained. "But he backed down, remember?"

"Yeah, he said something about 'prior claims'," Sam replied. "You don't think he meant one of us and Jo?"

"Exactly," Dean said. "It's like Animal Planet. Guys strut their stuff and girls choose; you , tiger, were the fittest candidate that crossed Gem's path – well, you were the only one that crossed her path."

Sam sat there silently as Dean continued. "Mole's people lay eggs, and they got fish people that spawn – how freaky is that? I'm guessing the first time that actually happened, one hell of a surprise for that girl, or thing, or whatever."

"What has that got to do with me having a shower?"

"They got enhanced senses, right – the X's and other felines – and no offence, dude, to them you stink of her," Dean said. "And Dalton, well, he's kind of like her kid brother. Nothing kinky, they escaped together. But the kid is getting older, growing up all alpha-like, might not like it if you advertise what you and her have been getting up to in the past couple of days. Especially if he doesn't think you're good enough for her."

Sam sighed.

Dean continued. "Look, it isn't your fault, but she's an X5. It's like the best of the best or something, and to them you're kinda like a beta."

"I'm a what?" Sam said.

"Sure, I got it all explained to me. Alec is like an alpha round here; pretty obvious with my genes the guy isn't going to be anything else. But, I've been wondering, does that mean that on some level he's my kid? 'Cause I know genetically speaking he's Dad's son, but without me he wouldn't be here, and if that's the case does that make Little Mole my grandkid? 'Cause, you know, she could do worse, but I'm really not ready to be doing the sitting on the porch handing out advice thing."

Sam rubbed his eyes. "Dean, get back to the point."

"Right, Dalton's growing up all alpha; might not like the fact that you went there with his sister." Dean broke out in a grin. "But don't worry, I'll protect you."

"What?"

"Well, Dad's the old alpha dog – done his time; I'm oldest, so I'm the alpha around here," Dean said. "You're the beta 'cause they're not sure what you can do yet."

"What?"

"It's not you, but to them, you're kind of untested."

"So, what you're really saying is that 'cause you went rolling in the mud with Alec they trust you more."

Dean shrugged. "If you want to put it that way, then, sure."

"Dean, where did you get this shit from?" Sam asked. "'Because I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that. Alpha and beta are personality types, not anything else."

"That isn't what Normal and Sketchy told me."

"Normal and Sketchy?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "The twin founts of all knowledge?"

"Hey, they're all right, a little odd but all right, and I needed something to do while you were busy."

"You have a good time?" Sam asked.

Dean grinned. "Yeah, you could say that. Went out with Alec and the guys; showed me a couple places they hung out, introduced me to something called 'two-fers'"

"Happy hour?" Sam asked.

Dean grinned. "It was a very happy hour, especially when you get two at the same time – Sketchy swears by it."

"They took you to a strip club, didn't they?" Sam asked. "You guys enjoy your night out?"

"Oh, come on, Sam," Dean said. "Look, I was bored, and to be honest you were more than a little occupied."

"Right," Sam replied. "It's just… sometimes with you and Alec, I feel a little left out."

"Don't mean to," Dean said. "And I didn't ask to get my butt kidnapped by a snake-worshipping demon cult, did I?"

"Suppose not," Sam replied.

"Anyway, if you want to look at it in another way, not counting that nineteen year dry spell, you've been getting more action than me lately – and that is wrong on so many levels."

Sam gave a little smile. "You have been a little quiet lately. Suppose if you didn't get out pretty soon you'd be dry humping the furniture."

"Hey!"

"I'm just asking if the guys thought they'd better get you out the house before you started eyeing up Dad and Ellen's couch."

"You know, I should feel more insulted by that," Dean retorted. "Anyway, I'm getting the feeling that I'm getting buttered up for something."

"Any idea what?"

"Not yet." Dean shrugged. "So, you and Gem? What's the story?"

Sam looked at the table. "I don't know."

"Right," Dean said, not believing his brother. "Even if you don't know what you want to do about her, you do want to head off trouble with her little brother – the really strong and well trained little brother, that is. So, call the girl to tell her where your head is at."

"Not sure even doing that would be a good idea."

"Have you had a vision or dream or something?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head. "Not since we woke up in the cabin."

"Well then, there you go!" Dean said. "Nothing to worry about."

"Dean, the girls that I spend time with have a nasty habit of ending up dead."

"Yeah, but you get a newsflash before it happens."

"Who's to say that since we've got here things haven't changed? What if I don't get them anymore and the Demon is still around?" Sam said. "He isn't going to give a damn about the fact that I spent…"

"A couple of days rutting like wild animals."

"Sketchy?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, if the Demon is still around, he's not going to care that the only reason that me and Gem were together was because she has a weird imbalance that causes her to kick out a chemical that any guy nearby reacts to."

"Any guy?" Dean asked. "Thought it was just the ones that were the same as her?"

Sam shook his head. "Trust me, it gets to you. If I had been thinking straight I…"

Dean sighed. "Look, Sam, she ain't Jess, she ain't Amelia, and neither of them was your fault."

"I just don't want to see her get hurt, that's all," Sam replied, still looking at the table.

"Sam, it was is just sex," Dean said, . "Unless there is something else?"

Sam just peered at his brother. "Dean, please, the girl is our friend. She needed a favor, and I helped her out; she doesn't deserve to be caught up in our shit."

"Right, it was a favor," Dean said. "She say how she's going to pay you back?"

Sam rolled his eyes, not responding to his brother.

Dean shook his head. "Sam, have a shower before you hit the sack, will you?"

Sam got up to walk out as Ellen came into the room. "So, you back, then?"

Sam swallowed, slightly uncomfortable under Ellen's glare. "Yes."

"You all right? Not strained anything?"

"Not you, too," Sam said.

Ellen raised an eyebrow as Dean held back a snigger.

"I'm going to hit the sack," Sam said as he started out of the room.

"Sam, come here," Ellen said firmly.

"What?" Sam asked, turning to his stepmother.

She pulled down the collar of his shirt to get a better look at his neck.

"What?" Sam asked as he tried to get away from her.

Ellen took a second, as she checked to see that Sam hadn't gotten himself mated accidentally, before saying anything. "Nothing."

"Right, can I go now?" Sam asked. "I'm beat."

Ellen nodded. "Sam, have a shower first."

"Already told him that," Dean said as Sam rolled his eyes.

Sam stopped. "Dean, how do you know they are at least twice as strong as us?"

Ellen gave Dean a wry smile. "You not tell him?"

Dean looked a little sheepish.

"Tell me what?"

"It's nothing," Dean replied, pouting slightly.

"He couldn't get into the peanut butter," Ellen said to Sam.

"So?"

"Eve could," Ellen said, causing Sam to chuckle.

"I loosened it for the kid," Dean said as he got up and went to the refrigerator. "Hey, Sam, catch."

Sam turned as Dean threw something at him; Sam looked down to see a bag of ice in his hands.

Dean smiled. "Thought you might need that, dude."

Sam muttered something under his breath at his brother, before turning to head toward the bathroom, taking the bag of ice with him.

* * *

Alec banged on the back door, carefully balancing the box of fresh fruit and vegetables in his other hand. "Hey, anybody in?"

He grumbled as no one answered, and put the box down to get his key, just as Sam opened the door, still groggy from just being woken up.

"Hey there, stranger," Alec said with a smile on his face.

Sam tutted and wandered away. "Don't start."

"Fine, be like that, I just come bearing fruit. I'm the only one around here who has any real idea about what you've been through. Heat can be fun, but personally I could live without it," Alec said as he put down the box and picked up an apple; he sniffed the air. "They told you to take a bath, then?"

"Yes, as soon as I got in," Sam said.

"Gem okay?" Alec asked.

Sam nodded. "She got back to her place."

"Great," Alec said.

"Why?"

"I just want to know I can go over there and see my kid, or if we're still doing pick ups here."

"What?" Sam asked.

Alec took a bite out the apple in his hand. "I'm not going to be on the receiving end of that fire hose again if I don't have to."

"Cindy?" Sam asked.

"Love the girl, but I swear sometimes I'd rather be back at Manticore than deal with her."

Sam smiled at the comment. "Take it other girls spend time there, during this thing?"

"Girls stay at Cindy's, to stay away from temptation, while Molly looks after the kids. Means that the kids are close by if they need their moms for anything," Alec said. "Good arrangement for everybody, except me. I've been hit with that stupid hose more times than I can count."

"So, you get it bad too?" Sam asked. "Gem said something about it being dangerous for you guys."

"Not exactly dangerous, we can get stupid, though," Alec admitted. "You know, just the usual, wanting to humiliate anything with testosterone in a fifty mile radius. Usual macho bullshit."

"How does it work?" Sam asked.

Alec took another bite of his apple. "Different strokes for different folks – each type figured out ground rules for their kind. I know that sounds weird, but up until a couple of years ago it was all new to us too."

"How?"

"Hormones, mixed in with the vitamins they use to give us – Manticore didn't want their precious creations to get outside and leave their DNA about, if you know what I mean. Sure, we could go out and enjoy ourselves on our off time, but we weren't meant to leave any little reminders of ourselves."

"They dosed you?" Sam asked. Alec nodded.

"Better than the alternative – which I am definitely happy they didn't go for – but that would make us too submissive, not aggressive enough," Alec replied, causing to Sam to shift in his chair uncomfortably, thinking about what Alec had meant.

"Hey, you up, bro?" Dean asked as he came into the room.

"Yeah, where is everyone?" Sam asked.

Dean shrugged. "Think Ellen's at work, Dad's somewhere, and as for Jo, think she's up to something but won't tell me."

Alec smiled. "Really, she's up to something?"

"What do you know?" Dean asked.

"Nothing," Alec replied quickly. "So, Sam, she go easy on you?"

"What?" Dean asked. "You seen his back?"

"At least he can still walk," answered Alec. "Not a lot of ordinaries can do that afterward."

"You saying we're delicate?" Dean asked.

Alec grinned. "It's not my fault that I'm the new and improved model. If Gem was gentle with him, then she was gentle, it's no reflection on him. What did you want her to do – break him?"

"Looks like she had a go," Dean replied.

"Guy's in the room," Sam said with a wave of his hand, causing both Alec and Dean to look at him. "Anyway, she said that she wasn't used to ordinaries."

Alec stilled. "Really? Her last time, was her breeding partner?"

Sam nodded, . "Yeah, but she didn't really explain."

"Thought so – but you know, it's one of those things you don't ask."

"Breeding partner?" Dean asked, confused.

Alec took a breath. "Eve's dad. Don't know who the guy is, but even if she said, I get the feeling that Gem wouldn't want him around."

Sam and Dean just sat there, slightly confused, while Alec continued to eat his apple. Finally, Dean spoke up. "What do you mean breeding partner?"

"Last couple of months at Manticore, the DNA database went down, we got new orders."

"What orders?" Dean asked.

"Look, I didn't like it either, and I didn't paired-up until the end. Something about my tendency toward free thought, while being good in the field, could be bad for the gene pool. Anyway, they may have decided that I wasn't going to go the same way as Ben, but they probably didn't want to risk it."

"Alec, what did they order you to do?" Dean asked.

"They paired us off; some of the guys took the order more seriously than the rest of us. But, before we go down that road again, and you two get ideas, I didn't push it."

Dean knotted his brow and repeated, "What did they order you to do?"

"You had to get someone pregnant, didn't you?" Sam said, and Alec nodded.

"There I was, asleep in my bunk, get a flashlight shone in my face and ordered to go to her cell. I wasn't happy about it – she'd been out for ten years, unsupervised; I didn't know what she had. Anyway, she didn't want to, kicked me in the chest when I told her why I was there, like it was my fault."

Sam smiled. "Max. You got assigned Max, didn't you?"

"Wait, are you telling me you got assigned that hot piece of…"

"Don't you go there," Alec said, cutting Dean off.

"If I knew that you could just get assigned someone as hot as her, they wouldn't have had to steal a piece of me – I would have volunteered."

"You seen her in a bad mood yet?" Alec asked.

"No, he hasn't," Sam replied, remembering what it had been like to be on the receiving end of Max's temper when the other two at the table had disappeared.

"So, if you guys are breeding partners, does that mean that she's your wife or something?" Dean asked.

"Oh, definitely; we broke out, headed straight to Vegas and the Elvis impersonator, even took Joshua along as page boy," Alec said with a roll of his eyes.

"Really?" Dean asked mockingly.

"She had a boyfriend on the outside, and I couldn't be bothered with the aggravation of trying to explain that we had orders more than once. So I caught up on some sleep instead, and when it came to confirming that we had, I lied, okay? Not going to tell everyone on the parade ground that I hadn't gotten any."

Dean nodded; he could see the logic behind it.

"She had a boyfriend?" Sam asked. "Logan?"

Alec nodded. "Yep, true love and all that – just like in the fairy stories. Then things change."

"Like what?" Sam asked.

"You don't know?" Alec replied.

Dean and Sam shrugged.

"You two haven't noticed?" Alec said, not believing it. "Seriously?"

"What?" Dean asked.

"How the hell did you two stay alive?" Alec replied. "You haven't noticed."

"What?"

"The gloves?" Alec waited for a response. "The fact that Logan always is wearing those gloves around her?"

Dean shrugged. "Thought the guy was just into latex."

"Oh Christ, Logan in gimp mode – not something I ever want to see or think about, ever," Alec replied.

"So what changed?" Sam asked.

"Maniticore. They gave Max and Logan a virus as a nice little parting gift, not that Maxie wasn't grateful, she went back, took the place down and let everybody out," ." Alec broke out in a grin, . "Funny, thinking on it, all the transgenics that got out that night owe our their freedom on the fact that Manticore stopped Maxie' getting laid."

Sam and Dean looked at Alec, confused as hell, as he continued.

"But the fire, well, that left her and Logan…they're still… you know, but they can't be together. Not that they didn't try. There is only so long they could take it before something would give, and then Maxie would never forgive herself. Then she'd blame me; not that she wouldn't have the right, but I was different person then," Alec said, before cutting himself off. He didn't really want to elaborate more on his part in helping Max to escape so she could deliver the virus to Logan, . "So, now we all have to listen both of them try not to talk about it even though we all know how they feel."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "But, you the way you guys act…and from what Cindy said?"

"That is for emergencies – can't have a meeting with someone when Max is trying to get into their pants, or I want to pound their face for looking at her," Alec replied, before turning to the other Winchester brother at the table, "You saw Gem, Sam, she couldn't help it, none of them can – a quirk of our DNA."

Sam nodded in response as Alec continued, "It isn't fun for us males either; girls just have to go through it once every few months, but us guys, we react to the pheromones they give off, and that can be at any time – you think I like acting like a tomcat if I don't have to?"

"It never stopped him, and he doesn't have that as an excuse," Sam said, nodding in Dean's direction.

"Hey," Dean protested.

"So what if I help Max out? I'm not stupid," Alec said. "If they could, I know that her and Logan would give it a shot, that she'd go running back to the guy. But right now that isn't a possibility, so I make sure she's okay, that she's taken care of, and I don't rub it in Logan's face."

"Yeah, right," Dean said, not believing Alec.

"Think what you like," Alec said, looking at his watch. "I got to blaze anyway, glad to see you back, Sam, and in one piece. If you guys see Ellen, tell her there's her share of the fruit run, and I'll be around at Moll's place later."

"Okay," Sam replied as Alec left. He turned to Dean. "And I thought you were fucked up about relationships."

* * *

** Also if people are interested - also am planning to get the next chapter up for 'Pleased to Meet You' which is the sequel to how John met Alec up in the next few days as well **


	16. Chapter 16

Okay, this is me trying to resurrect this story, so I'm posting this chapter to see if anyone actually is still interested, if I should tweak ideas or if I should abandon it all together.

I freely admit I haven't had anyone else look at it before I'm letting it loose here so all mistakes are my own. And yes, I do know that it does appear at present to have at least 6 divergent plots at present within this chapter, but this part was at much me acknowledging the fact they were all there as well as kicking me up the proverbial to do something about this story.

* * *

Dean sat in the corner of the command centre bored out his skull as he watched the others work; the only thing he had to keep himself occupied was a pack of cards Luke had given him while Max had finished up some paperwork.

Yeah, he loved this, sitting waiting on the fearless leader to finish up so she could talk him through how she would respond to his or Alec's behavior in different situations.

"You ready?" she asked as she came out of her small office.

"Suppose so," Dean said as he looked up from the game of pairs he had been playing.

"Fine," she replied as she started down the corridor causing him to look back down at his cards to continue playing.

She stopped and turned to look at him.

"Are you coming?" she said.

"If you ask, yeah," Dean said with a smirk causing Max to put a hand on her hip.

"Can you follow me then, please?" she said with a slightly irritated note to her voice.

"Sure," Dean said tidying up the pack before getting up and walking over to Luke to return them to him.

"I haven't got all day," Max said as she stood there for a moment as Dean thanked Luke.

Dean patted the ditch digger on the shoulder as he made a move to follow Max. "Manners don't cost anything, you know."

Max stopped and turned, "Really, costs nothing?"

"Ahh, there it is," Dean said with a smile as he caught up with Max.

"There is what?" Max said.

"The lecture about something that is frankly none of your business," Dean replied curtly. "Especially, considering I can quite easily go back to my dad's and sit on my ass tonight."

"You'd do that?" Max asked.

"Hey, I've lost bigger pots," Dean said with a smile. "I survived. So, don't think you going all PMS bitch at me is going to make me do this out of the goodness of my heart."

"You know what is on the line and you see this as a way to make a quick buck?"

"Man has to have his pride," Dean replied. "So you should think about at least trying to be civil until this is over."

"You are getting paid for this. I can be any damn way I like."

"Yeah, as I said I can live without the folding, though I admit the idea of missing a free night out with a woman like your sister that I'd feel sorry about," Dean said. "If anything I'm doing you a favor."

"A favor?"

"Yeah, I know what those cult dudes want to do and you can't hold the whole seizing thing over my head, like you do Alec or Samantha or any of the others. The cash it's between me and him okay?" Dean replied. "So stop the righteous act you've been pulling since Logan's, I ain't the one in need here."

"Fine, but that still doesn't change the fact that you are still a bastard," Max said coldly.

"I'd give my parents the credit for it, but they were married for a couple of years before I came along, so I'd have to say I'm a completely self made one there," Dean retorted.

"Now I know where he got it from." Max muttered.

"Can we just get this over with, you tell me what you'd say or do if I act like Garfield, then I can go and 'bond' with your sister before we have to go play lets pretend," Dean asked. "And for the record I may not know him as well as you do but give the guy some credit, Alec's as much of his own bastard as I am." Dean said as he got to the small room that served as Max's office.

* * *

He knocked the door with some trepidation.

"Oh great, what do you want?"

"Ehm, Dalton isn't it?" Sam said drawing himself up to his full height in the presence of the eighteen year old X6 in front of him. "Is Gem about?"

Dalton hesitated.

"I don't want any trouble," Sam said.

"Then what do you want?" Dalton hissed.

"My brother is dealing with something with Max so I thought I drop by and ….I just wanted to make sure Gem's okay, to talk if she wants to. I know she's like your sister and that you weren't happy about…"

"About some Ordinary, who she barely knows, taking advantage of her when she is vulnerable?" Dalton asked. "When she had gone to ground to wait things out?"

"It wasn't like that." Sam argued. "I…I didn't know okay."

"Sure you didn't," Dalton spat out.

"Look, I just want to make sure she's okay."

"After what you did?" Dalton retorted as he barred Sam's entrance. "She isn't stupid you know; if that is why you're here. She's not going to let you in so you can try for round two."

"I never said she was stupid, and I'm not here for anything like that" Sam replied. "I understand what you got to think man, but I swear I didn't know about heat cycles until I walked in on her."

"Really, I'm supposed to believe that you hadn't heard half the rumors about us, about how our women turn into crazy feral wild things that have to be locked up for their own protection?" Dalton retorted. "Sure you haven't. Like half the guys that hassle our girls haven't heard that one."

"Hey, Dude. I understand where you are coming from," Sam replied trying to placate the guy. "She's family to you and you want to protect her."

"Really?" Dalton asked. "Is this where you tell me that because you spent three days with my sister, you know how she feels? That she wants to see you and that I should chill."

"That wasn't what I was going to say," Sam retorted.

"Oh this is where you say that you understand why I'm not happy because you turn up here, in our place when you were supposed to be dead, to find out that that you suddenly now technically have sisters yourself and if it were you were me you'd feel the way I'm feeling right now. Like that compares in the slightest to how my family works, what me and Gem have been through." Dalton growled. "So I'm going to ask you nicely to leave because I'm not just going to let you in the door after what you did."

"It wasn't like that," Sam argued.

"I don't care what you say it was like," Dalton argued. "So why don't you leave before I break my promise and rearrange every bone in your body."

"Dalton!" Gem yelled as she caught the end of her brother.

"See still in one piece," Dalton said turning to his sister. "I said I wouldn't do anything to him, unless he got in my way and I'm giving him fair warning."

"I'm sorry Sam," Gem said staring her little brother down. "It's okay, if you're here to check on how things are with me. Then it's fine."

"Dumb Beta," Dalton started to mumble under his breath causing his sister to swat him in the back of his head.

"Watch your mouth!" Gem said firmly. "I'll handle this."

"Sis," Dalton said as he stood his ground in the doorway.

"I say I'll handle it," Gem replied causing the boy's shoulders to fall. "Dalt, I'll be a minute."

Dalton shot Sam a look, before turning to his sister. "One minute."

Gem nodded as the boy headed back into the apartment.

Sam sighed. "Look I didn't mean to cause any problems."

"It's okay," Gem said as she ran a tired hand over her face. "I'll have words with him, he's just…"

"Just being your brother," Sam said as he stuck his hands in his pockets. "He's just looking out for you."

"Well, still doesn't mean that he gets to act like an ass," she replied. "He knows what happened. He hasn't got any reason to be pissed at you."

Sam ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I just popped by to see if you were…boy this is awkward."

Gem cocked her head to the side. "Awkward?"

Sam nodded. "I just wanted to see if you were okay, that's all, because I have no idea about, well most of this stuff."

"Okay, I'll give you that," Gem said. She hesitated for a moment. "Hope you are okay."

"Yeah, I'm okay," Sam said. "I just wanted to make sure that you didn't think that you had to avoid me or anywhere because of me. Though if you want me to stay out of your way I'll understand that."

Gem stood there not sure what to say.

"I just want to make sure that we can still be friends," Sam said. "That is all."

"Right," Gem said confused. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Well, with the heat thing and well Alec explained a little about the 'breeding partners' thing to me."

"Oh," Gem said tensing. "Breeding partners."

"No, I'm not just here because of that," Sam said as he saw her obvious discomfort. "You're Molly's best friend and were, at least before the whole thing at Cindy's, my friend so I just wanted to at least try and clear the air between us."

"Who says that there was air to clear?" Gem asked as she crossed her arms.

Sam nodded and took a step back, "Okay, I better be going. I just wanted to…sorry."

"I'll see you around then," Gem said as Dalton appeared at the door.

"Minute's up," the boy growled to which Gem nodded and went back into the apartment.

"Hope you enjoyed your visit. Please come again, I'm sure I can make your next visit more interesting for you," the boy said as he slammed the door in Sam's face.

* * *

Sam walked despondently into the command building.

"Hey? Why the long face?" Alec said rubbing his hand through the through his just cut hair.

Sam shrugged. "Nothing."

"Okay, it's nothing," Alec said.

"So what time is Dean and …Samantha supposed to be heading out?" Sam asked.

"Well shift change is at 8.45, so they should be at a club from about 7.15 till 9 then we'll have a complete alibi," Alec replied as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Is something wrong?" Sam said.

"No," Alec said. "Man, I haven't had my hair as short as this since I was twelve and they decided to let us grow it."

Sam smiled. "Then why did you get it cut?"

Alec turned round to show the red area just below the hair line. "Should calm down by tonight, but just incase I get caught on camera thought it best that we match and someone wasn't agreeable about getting inked or even a transfer."

"Dean wouldn't play, huh?" Sam asked.

"Told me to stick it for even suggesting it," Alec said. "Girls, Dude they have it so much easier."

"I'm not sure providing an alibi is the usual reason to have long hair."

"Really, so what is your excuse?" Alec asked to which Sam responded with stony silence.

"Well, them just having just to synchronize their 'do's', means neither one of them just spent the last twenty minutes dealing with the aftermath of having the top layer of their epidermis burnt off a part of their body and I don't care what anyone else says the base of your skull is very sensitive area," Alec said huffing. "But seriously, why the face man? It's not like you have to worry that someone is going to screw up and blow your cover while you're doing something highly illegal."

Sam shoved his hands in his pockets, "Where's Dean?"

"My automatic response to that question is that he's probably with Sam, but seeing how you're here and the one he should be spending time with, the one with boobs, is with Joshua catching up, I don't know. So big bro could still be with Maxie," Alec said as he yelled over to Mole. "Hey, Lizard Brain any idea where Dean and Max are?"

"The Duchess is in the office," the DAC replied as he turned his attention to the coffee cup. "Should be out pretty soon seeing how pissed she looked."

"Okay, I'll give him five minutes at most," Alec said to Sam. "Two if he's perfected his 'How to be as charming as Alec routine. For some reason she doesn't like that one."

"Really?" Sam replied. "I wonder why that would be?"

Alec smirked, "I really have no idea."

"Hey, Princess, looks like he made it out alive" Mole yelled to Alec as Dean appeared in the hallway. Mole turned and yelled in Dean's direction, "Duchess, they've been looking for you."

A confused Dean spun round to see if there was a person behind him,

"What did you say?" A confused Dean asked Mole.

"That you're wanted," Mole said.

"But, what did you call me?" Dean asked Mole who had gone back to his work.

"Oh I get it, Princess and the Duchess," Sam said with a smirk as he looked between Dean and Alec.

"Suppose it could be worse," Alec said. "At least it seems to factor in your age."

"Thanks Princess?" Dean asked mockingly

"If it upsets you I can ask him not to call him that, though does run the risk he'll start calling you Queenie," Alec smiled as Max made an appearance at her office doorway.

"Luke, can you get in here!" Max yelled causing the ditch digger to jump.

Mole sighed and threw a sympathetic look in Alec's direction whose shoulders slumped.

"Great, there goes any idea that this is going to be a fun job." Alec said to Dean. "What did you do?"

"Ain't my fault she's the bitch," Dean replied.

"Yeah, sure, that is fine for you," Alec replied. "What did you say?"

"Does it matter?" Dean asked causing Alec to glare at him.

"Come on Duchess, lets get you out of here," Sam said as he turned to find himself coming face to face with Cindy.

"So you are here," she said as Sam recoiled a little. "Was told you were, but thought if you had sense you'd be long gone."

"Hi Cindy, how's things?" Sam said more than a little uncomfortably.

"Don't you go how's things. You and me are going be having a sit down, real soon. But first, I got this to do," she said as she turned and nodded to Sketchy who was standing behind her. "Give it to him."

"What? You had me fix it and drag it over here just to give it away?" Sketchy asked.

"You heard me! Give the man the damn table," Cindy said as a reluctant Sketchy handed a confused Dean the coffee table.

"Is this some future thing that I don't know about?" Dean asked as the woman started to turn.

"Future thing?" Cindy replied. "On what planet is this a future thing?"

"Well it ain't my birthday and it can't be a house warming present as I don't have a house or anywhere else to put it to be honest."

"No it ain't a future thing or present thing," Cindy said. "Damn Winchester thing, this is."

"Excuse me?" Alec said.

"Pretty boy, OC has had enough. She may have spent sixteen hours queuing and four trades to find the one she wanted, but she is not wanting to have to go through the pain of having to watch her hard earned finds have to be fixed yet again. So he can damn well have it seeing how those with the same genome have decided that they have kink to work out by breaking the damn thing."

"My genome?" Dean said looking in Alec's direction who was as confused as Dean.

"Oh don't just blame him; there is the other one as well. Once is an accident but twice hell no. Cindy ain't waiting around for it to happen a third time, not in her apartment so you can have the damn thing before you get any ideas seeing how your family sees to like 'using' so much," Cindy said turning round as Sketchy looked at his hands.

"I feel unclean now," Sketchy said as Alec and Sam seemed to exchange embarrassed looks.

Dean dropped it, "Oh man."

"You can say that all you want, but I am not waiting around till you decide to follow their lead and you come round to my place to use your naked ass to redesign my furniture," Cindy said before turning to Sam, "Oh yeah, there is a downed hover drone on the roof across from my building that the sector cops are asking questions about."

"Hover drone?" Alec asked.

Sam swallowed, "It came down. Oh boy."

"Oh yeah," she said. "And I'd say you are lucky that I wasn't so pissed that I didn't point them in your direction as none of my neighbors are stupid enough to lose their pants in that way."

"Your pants brought down a hover drone?" Alec asked.

"One of those flying trash can lids?" Dean asked. "How the hell?"

Sam ran a hand over his face, "Great Gem's pissed at me as it is."

* * *

"So knocking off time is seven and I do a five hour shift but I get paid for four?" Jo asked as Normal was locking up.

"Yep," Normal replied. "You work here; you get the same deal as the rest of them. When your training period is up that hour gets paid for."

"Yeah, but you said when you finally do decide that my training period was over it's flat rate for four and that extra hour is per delivery," Jo said. "That hardly seems fair."

"Fair?" Normal asked. "Fair? Please, the teamsters are long gone girl."

"But what if that hour is a quiet one and you didn't tell me which hour of my shift is the one I'm paid by commission."

"Please, I have dealt with these peons for years and I know them given half the chance they'd sit on their collective butts all day, drinking my coffee, if they knew which hour they got."

"Normal, we supply our own coffee," Jo cocked her head.

"Yeah but it is my water and facilities," Normal replied.

"You change the hour don't you? You don't even give us a chance to work it out."

"Course I do, I'm not stupid," Normal said. "Though, muto was right, you do have a brain cell, so you might work out. Usually takes them about two weeks to realize that one."

"Jeez, thanks," Jo said to the back handed compliment.

Normal pulled something out of his pocket. "Here."

"What, I get paid already?" Jo asked, though she hesitated. "Hey, I want a job but I'm not that desperate."

"Please Missy, I set the bar a little higher than part time bike messengers," Normal retorted before turning his attention to pulling the shutters down. "God knows what I'd get."

"Glad to know what you think," Jo replied causing Normal to turn round and look at her.

"Seriously have you seen some of the pin heads that work here, not sure when half of them last had a shower let alone went for a screening or even knew what one was," Normal explained "He begged me to pass that on, but Missy I'll give you a piece of advice; do what I do and steer clear of interoffice dating because you don't get a health plan with this position."

Jo nodded as Normal left for the night, opening the envelope in her hands.

"_Jo,_

_Heard Normal was keeping you late to do orientation shit, so won't get to see you as my quitting time. _

_If you're interested, me and some of the guys are hitting a bar down the street. Thought, seeing how Sketchy said he wouldn't be able to ride with you tomorrow that you might want to join us so you get a chance to at least learn our names before Mien Furher sticks one of us with you._

_As I said we won't bite if you don't want us to._

_Hope to see you there. _

_Flip._

Jo smiled, "Okay, quiet drink with the guys from work, I could do that. New speed, New time and new me."

* * *

"So what did he do?" Alec asked as Max opened the security panel.

"What's the code," Max asked.

"Don't you remember?" Alec asked sarcastically to which Max threw him a look that could cut through glacier. "Oscar, India, four, six, two, two, nine."

"That's what I thought," Max said putting in the numbers.

"Come on, what did he do?" Alec asked again. "You've been pissed since I picked you up, so what did he do to you."

"Can you guys focus on the job?" a voice said coming through an ear piece.

"Did she tell you?" Alec asked the disembodied voice. "Come on Logan please. He wouldn't talk and she isn't. I just want to know."

"Floor is clear; can you throw the false image now?" Max asked Logan.

"Sure Max," Logan said. "Security feed is showing continuous roll back. You guys are clear."

"Thanks," Max said opening the vent to head inside.

"And for the record Alec, I have no idea what Dean said to her," Logan said.

"Can we get this job done?" Max asked.

"Sure," Alec replied as he followed her lead. "You aren't going to tell me what he said. Not even so you can blame me for it?"

"Three minutes forty five seconds," Logan said through the ear piece as Max worked on the museum casing.

"No," Max said. "I'm not repeating it. I don't want to think about it and even if he does try it, I'm betting he'll live to regret it."

"So you're not going to tell me?" Alec asked again. "Not even in the aim of helping me bond with my new found family."

"Oh you need no help in bonding with him," Max said looking up from her work.

"Three minutes," Logan said as he counted down. "New shift entering the elevator."

"Hey, he's my…you know template," Alec explained as he sprayed the aerosol to check for hidden security measures."

"Trust me, they didn't break the mould when they made you," Max replied as she lifted the ball. "Anyway, if you want to bond with a member of your family, what about Sam? You've hardly spent anytime with the guy."

Alec exhaled. "I don't know."

"What do you mean, 'You don't know?'" Max replied.

"Two minutes," Logan said. "Are you guys finished?"

"Package collected," Alec replied to the disembodied voice in his ear before turning to Max. "Honestly, I don't know."

"You've been spending all the time you can with Dean. You got Normal to give Jo a try out; but Sam, you don't know?"

Alec looked at her, "I don't know, Dean, well he's my template, MY original. I'm going to be curious, you know. You can't say that you wouldn't be the same if you got to meet the 'woman' you were cloned from."

Max glared "That doesn't mean I would bend over because I want to impress her, as she could be anything like a scheming, gold digging, son of a bitch."

Alec started to climb. "I don't want to impress him."

"Yes, you do. Because if it was anyone else you wouldn't be talking about really handing over four hundred bucks, let alone picking up his bar tab," Max said. "So don't say that you don't want to impress the guy."

"Fine," Alec replied as she began to climb through the grate just ahead of him. "Whatever you say Max, I want to impress the guy. As for me and Jo, yeah I get her, she's easy to read. But Sam…well…he's a nice guy and sure, I like the guy. It's just don't feel the brother thing, yet."

"Yet?" Max asked as she continued through the vent. "You can't just ignore the guy while you give Dean an apple a day."

"It's not like I'm not trying or that the guy can complain, I got him laid, didn't I?"

* * *

"I got to admit I can't believe you said that to her, but you are not going to get to even try to put that one to the test…."

"Hey, I know you got a husband and the rug rats but you got to admit that even the idea I would even try and talk you round did piss your sister off," Dean replied as he poured himself a beer from the pitcher. "But if you want to stick the hard chick act fine, think she did it enough for both of you."

"Like she has the right to do that on my behalf, even if we were close," Samantha said.

"If that is what floats your boat," Dean said. "Got the feeling about that. Not going to ask about your sibling deal."

"Clones, we're clones, not siblings," Samantha replied.

"Can't see much difference myself. All off you started in tubes. Me and the other two, one got born other 2 tubes after someone stole parts so I get who's the clone of who. But how you guys relate to each other – well could drive a simple guy like me to drink," Dean admitted taking a mouthful of beer.

"Well I wouldn't think about it too much, if I were you," Samantha replied.

Dean let out a breath before eyeing the pool table. "So 'Maxie', we got at least 1 hour to kill and we're not paying, so what do you say we do what we are supposed to do and actually have a good time."

Samantha smiled getting up from the table to grab a cue, "Well let me kick your ass while you explain what you have in mind."

"Okay, sweetheart," Dean replied as he started to rack up.

Samantha stilled. "Don't call me that."

"Technically I'm not calling anyone anything," he said with a grin. "Maxie."

"Sure your not, and by the way lets get this straight, at no point this evening do you get to mention that I'm supposedly obsessed with your ass."

Dean looked up confused as she made the break. "Fine, but you got to at least me make a pathetic effort to hit on at least three girls before you call me a man whore."

"As long as you don't mention 'my need' for batteries."

"They have a twisted relationship," Dean admitted as Samantha sunk a ball.

"Tell me about it."

They hit about four bars, making sure their faces were seen by various crowds by the time it hit 9.30.

"So I heard there is this club that has actual live music," Dean yelled over the noise.

"They got a license?" Samantha said.

"Think so, what do you say, I'm done bar hoping," Dean yelled pointing to his watch.

"Let me just get rid of this," She replied pointing to the pitcher before turning and heading to the busy bar. She pushed her way to the front, to try and hand back the pitcher.

"Busy tonight isn't it," a short dark haired man said to her, to which Samantha sighed.

"Yeah, it is busy," she replied trying to get through the last of the crowd.

"Haven't seen you here, but then again I haven't been out and about in a while, 'Max'," he said politely causing Samantha to turn and look at the man.

"Well I haven't been here too much myself, so how's things been with you?" Samantha said as she hoped to get away from the guy quickly in case her cover wasn't truly blown.

"Been busy, but then again so many things have just started to come together."

"Really?"

"You?"

"The same," she replied.

"Yeah, heard that," the man said. "But then again, that's work for you. One minute everything is on track and then it all goes sideways."

"Thought you said things have just started to come together?" Samantha asked, noting the way the guy's clothes seemed to set him apart from the others at the bar.

"Yes, just when the boss starts going on about how things are falling apart and that how we all will have to go back to the drawing bored opportunities just 'poof', seem to re - appear."

"Reappear?" Samantha asked tentatively.

"Oh, yes, boss was beginning to give up hope that he'd be able to use that asset again," he said before looking at his watch. "But guess I should go, you know what boss's are like, let us out for a quick celebratory drink but expects you back at the grind stone as soon as we're done."

"Yeah, it has been good seeing you…again,"

He smiled, "Yes, and can you say hello to Sam and the family. Tell them we'll be seeing them soon."

Her face blanched, while her hand gripped tighter on to the pitcher as he turned and walked away, his darkening eyes smiling.

She pulled the guy in front of her out of her way to place the pitcher on the bar, before turning to scan the bar.

"Hey you ready to go?" Dean asked as she slowly walked over to get her jacket.

"Yes let's get out of here," she said cagily.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked.

She snapped round to him. "Nothing. Let's go."

Dean hesitated before following her.

"Look I'm going to go," she said as she got on her bike. "You be careful."

"Yeah, sure. I'll be fine," Dean said as she started the engine to take off. Dean grabbed hold of her waist as he jumped on the back.

"Get off," she yelled.

"Like hell I will," Dean said as she slowed the bike hell a little, "Where ever you are going I'm going too sweetheart."

"Fine!" she yelled as she opened the throttle and sped up.

* * *

"Hey, John, there is some guy out front that wants to talk to you," Fix-It said as she came walked into the coffee area of the garage.

"Does he say what he wants?" John asked the grease covered X6. "Ain't someone complaining that about an oil change?"

"No, don't recognize him."

"You sure he wants to talk to me?" John asked confused.

"Yep, asked for you by name," Fix-it said. "But he isn't one of your hunting friends either; he's in a cheap suit and driving a rental."

John shrugged. "Could be a hunter on a job."

"When do you guys ever scrub up when you want to scrounge parts?" Fix-It asked.

"Hunters aren't always on the make kid."

She looked at him grabbing a rag to clean her hands. "Sure, they don't look at this place as freebie central."

"You sound like you don't want to help out?" John replied.

"I don't mind helping, but not when you guys completely disregard my bottom line."

John laughed patting the girl on the shoulder. "Finally made a business woman out of you."

"Hey, I resent that!" Fix-It yelled after him.

"I'm John Winchester; believe you're looking for me?" John said as he walked up to the man who was standing at the entrance of the garage.

The man nodded reaching into his inside pocket, John tensed moving a hand behind his back to wave a finger at the girl he knew was watching.

"John Winchester, I'm special agent Halls Ryback," the man said handing over an ID for John to look at.

"Really?" John said raising an eyebrow, as he handed back from what he had to admit was a good fake if it was one.

"Yes sir, I'm hear to ask if you could accompany me down to the station," he said. "We have some questions regarding your son?"

"Which one?" John asked.

"There are some questions regarding the connection between Dean Winchester and the…."

"So you can't pick Alec up again so you guys are coming for me?" John said interrupting him.

"As I said, there are some unanswered questions," the agent said.

John nodded. "The station, you said. I guessing you mean central booking?"

The agent nodded.

"Am I under arrest?" John asked.

"No sir, but we'd appreciate if you'd be able to clear things up for us," the agent said to which John nodded before heading back to the garage.

"If I ain't under arrest, I'll follow you down," he said.

"Sir that isn't necessary," the agent said. "I can drive you."

John smiled as he turned. "Son, I may be an old man but I'm more than able to get down town myself. Unless that is a problem with that?"

"No sir, that won't be a problem, I'll let them know that you're on your way," The agent said with a shake of his head.

John nodded before turning to go get his jacket from the garage.

"You can't be serious," Fix-It said as she kept hold of his keys.

"Give me those," John said firmly.

"Like hell I will," she replied. "You aren't going anywhere."

"We aren't having any discussion about this."

"We got familiars scheming and planning, and now you plan to possibly hand yourself to them."

"You don't know that," John said coolly as he went over to a draw in the tool chest.

"Really?" Fix-It said. "Then if he isn't a familiar then the best we can hope for is that he is really FBI and you are still going to walk into that."

"Yep."

"And there was me thinking you didn't realize how serious this is?" the girl said as John picked out what he needed. "You are not thinking about hot wiring your truck, are you?"

"Ellen knows I'm working late here, so can you call her to find out where the girls and Sam are."

"Where the girls and Sam are?" Fix-It asked.

"Yeah, know what the other two are doing."

"Sure, I can do that, while I tell her that you've just become plain stupid."

"If you've not heard from me in two hours call her again and tell her I'm okay."

"Okay? But, John I'll be telling her where you are first call," Fix-It said. "If I make one to her at all."

"You are calling her," John said firmly.

"Well, I'm not telling her two hours after the fact that the best she can hope for is that the government have made you disappear," Fix- It said. "If I'm calling her at all it'll be from down town because I'm coming with you."

"No you are not," John said turning and grabbing hold of the kid. "You are going to help me lock up and then you are going home."

"I am not," Fix- It said in a low voice.

"Kid, listen," John said. "I'm one old man, one human. You ain't and I'm not going with him, I'm driving myself, in my own truck down to central booking and I'll go my own way to get there."

"John?" Fix-It asked.

"I am not going to hand over a test subject to any familiar or the feds," John said firmly. "But I want to know why he's here, now. So, if they want me, they can have me; but on my terms. Which I can't do if you're with me, so you are going to go home and you aren't going to say a goddamn word to anyone there about this. I'm not having someone do something stupid, not for an old man. You guys will only get in my way."

"Yeah, sure we would, GI Joe," Fix-It said mockingly. "What you going to do if the worse happens, hold them off with your walker?"

John knotted his brow. "If you ain't heard from me in two hours you tell Ellen that I'm okay but I'll be back before that to tell her it myself."

The girl stood her ground. "Fine, you want to go down there for information, but you are taking a tactical risk that you don't have to make. If you want intel – I am more than capable of getting it out of this guy."

John smiled. "Kid, you got spunk, but I want answers from the guys above this one's pay grade."

"Fine, but if you aren't back in two hours, I'm coming down to central," Fix-It said. "I'm going to come down there and get you and if you aren't there I'm going make them pay until they tell me where you are."

"Tough talk kid," John said.

"Well some one had to make sure you remember to take your pills," she said handing over the keys. "Now, give me the screwdriver."

John smiled as he handed the thing over.

She looked at the ground. "Well it would be a shame to hit that trucks resale price because you scratch up its ignition column, 'cause you don't have your reading glasses on."

"Kid, knock off the age stuff, I get it I'm not as young as I was."

"Just thought I better remind you of it as remember the last time you decided to do things all by yourself you ended up throwing your back out for a week."

John glared at her in response.

"Fine, the government, hunting, working under an old wreck and hurting yourself so proving you are still the world's most stubborn bastard is all the same thing," Fix-It stated.

"Mouthy kid," John said as he headed to his truck.

* * *

"Hello Mr. Winchester," Special agent Hendrickson said as John was lead into one of the interview rooms. "I'd like to thank you for you coming down here."

"Yeah, well surprised that he was actual agent."

"Why would you be surprised?" Hendrickson asked to which John laughed.

"You are seriously from out of town aren't you? But I'm guessing if I didn't come this time of my own free will next time you'd have some stupid reason cooked up to arrest me," John replied as he sat down. "So you want to talk to me about Dean and 493?"

Hendrickson pulled out a file. "Yes, but I'm just wondering how helpful you're going to be?"

"Then I'll just go then, you can tell your boss' that I came down though."

"Mail Fraud, implication in assaults, possible homicides," Hendrickson said. "All in all you got an impressive sheet yourself. Looks like your boy and '493' were just following your lead."

"Possible homicides?" John said raising an eyebrow. "If you could you would have charged me already, as for the rest I believe the statute of limitations ran out on that when the government central infrastructure got a lot more important things to worry about than one old man forgetting to pay his Visa bill on time."

Hendrickson smiled as he closed the file, "Okay Mr. Winchester."

"Dean didn't kill those men," John said. "493 did, not Dean not Alec or 494. 493 did. His name was Ben, and he wasn't either one of the two you kidnapped.

"So do you know where he is?"

John shrugged. "From what I've been told he died before the transgenics got out."

"Really," Hendrickson said. "So how are you sure this new 'Dean' wasn't involved."

"Fine, you don't believe me," John said picking up a computer aged picture of Dean, "But he wasn't and neither was the old one and before you ask I ain't in touch with or have any idea where anyone who looks like that is."

"So, you do know that there is a connection between your son and the transgenic's, Alec 493 and this 'new' Dean?" Hendrickson asked.

"Not stupid, 'course I do. Don't know how they did it, but if you bothered to check your facts I've been looking for what happened to my oldest two for years, and I didn't meet Alec until after those killings stopped so I'm not covering for anyone. In fact, if you can tell me where my eldest boys disappeared to in 2007, I would appreciate it."

"And the Manticore connection?"

"Same thing," John replied as the door to the interview room opened. "I don't know how they did it or when they got my son's DNA, but they did. I just don't hold it against the ones they made."

"And Ben?" the man who had just entered asked.

"I never met him," John said. "Never got the chance to help the boy."

"You would have helped him?"

John nodded, "He's was as much a part of my family as Alec is. Even, if what they did to him in that place broke him in the head."

"Interesting."

John narrowed his brow. "Who are you?"

"This is a specialist who has said he's willing to work on this with us," Hendrickson replied as John sighed.

"Heard you had disappeared, probably dead," he said as he looked the grey haired man in the eye.

"They told you about me?"

"Sure they did," John answered. "Why wouldn't they? Is it still Colonel?"

"I'm technically a civilian now Corporeal."

"You read my sheet, even though Vietnam must have been well before your time." John replied. "So, what do you want?"

"I'm helping the FBI with it's enquires because I'm definitely curious about a third X5 -490 unit being around as to my knowledge we never went into triple births for the X5's."

"So they didn't tell you everything," John replied.

"No, they didn't, so maybe you could help me?"

"How, MISTER Lydecker?" John said coldly.

"How my kids are doing?"


	17. Chapter 17

In an effort to get me writing this one again.

* * *

A ten hour drive, how the hell had it taken ten hours when they seemed to have gotten there in less than one. Or was that just his imagination considering he was had been holding on in fear for his life for the whole time as she set a new land speed record in what experts would politely say weren't optimum conditions. Okay it seemed less than one, but it was longer and she hadn't exactly tried to ditch him after he had gone to relieve himself at the gas station just prior to finding her favourite point to sneak over the border. Granted her both filling the tank and calling in was actually quicker than expected – so what if females multitasked better, her yelling at him that she was ready to go was not going to cause him to pee any faster. Actually, she should have been grateful that the way he had grown up had lead him to have an extra large bladder that he had such good control over it given how much beer both of them had drank.

In fact she should be damn grateful that she wasn't going to have to work out how to get a very interesting stain off of her bike seat with the way she had taken that S bend out of Bellingham.

Her husband though, boy did it seem that the poor guy had to put up with a load of crap considering he had the shit scared out of him by a semi familiar looking stranger bursting into his house while his wife decided to check out the back - did her and her sister take this micro managing shit to the extreme or what? Plus, if the way she swept the house when she finally graced it with her presence was anything to go by, the guy must have one hell of a regimented sex life or just like being ordered around in front of company – though he had to admit the guy had balls to go toe to toe with her about packing up there and then because of something someone had said in a bar, even if he was making his point with a stuffed toy and the only back up he had was in the form a sulky twelve year old listening at the top of the stairs.

Granted the argument ended when the other transgenics showed up to discuss possible other security options. Boy had he been glad to see them as it meant Samantha had no choice but to calm down, not to mention that it gave him the opportunity to simply given everyone the nod and slip out the back door while Samantha and her family went through the arguments of staying put with protection or moving to a safe house.

Actually, he wondered that the whole damn thing would have been laughable if it wasn't for the possibility that if he was in Samantha's shoes he would be having the same damn arguments. No fucking wonder his Dad had stuck close to that rat hole of a base. Every time a threat came down they would have gone through the same fucking thing and no way were his Dad and Ellen going to desert the last two kids they had known he had, even if one of them was technically a poor pirate copy and probably caused the problem in the first place.

But ten hours to get back into the heart of Seattle, ten hours most of which was the actual getting into the fucking city. Sure the Canadians border guards had basically opened the gates and kicked him and the two X-7 kids he was taking with him back to the US with a very polite '_Please don't ever come back'_. True, the exchange was backed up with rather large guns, because they all knew the papers he was passing, although would probably hold up under examination were as fake as a nine dollar bill, but it was very polite. Actually they had just stopped short of handing them a bunch of flowers and a fruit basket when he declared that the only direction he as an American citizen was interested in going was south.

But once they had gotten to the Seattle and the sector cops realised the direction they had come from, well that old minivan he had driven had suddenly found itself being violated in more ways that the poor lemon actually deserved and what had they been looking for? Did they give a hint, no they didn't – Jesus this world was fucked up! At least it was only the mini van that had gotten that treatment not that he wondered what reception was going to await him the second he got back to the house.

"Hello?" he asked as he tentatively opened the backdoor to be met with stony silence from Ellen who seemed to be looking over some books.

"Would have called. But you know….I never had to, you know call Mom to say what time I'd be back before." He said uncomfortably as she didn't say a word.

"Right," he said as he scratched his head unsure what to do considering the atmosphere. "Well, was told that everything went okay with Alec's thing and Sam, well Samantha's back home, okay."

She cocked her head to the side causing him to hesitate for a moment.

"Okay, well, good morning and I'm just…well I've been driving for a while so I'm going to…" he started to say. He nervously grinned "And I'm a grown man, who doesn't have to explain why he was out all night to anyone especially when they know what was going down. So I'm just going to get cleaned up."

"You do that," Ellen said quietly returning to study the page she had previously been reading causing Dean to slowly and carefully retreat from her presence.

-o-

"Okay, what bug crawled up Ellen's ass?" he asked as he got down to the basement to find Sam sitting on his bed. "Is the whole cold shoulder act a run up to her grounding my ass for being out past curfew?"

Sam shrugged. "She's been stressed out since last night so I think she at least going to give you a time out for the skipping the country on such sort notice."

"Great, I'm going to be put on the 'naughty' step now – my life really sucks."

"Like mine is so much fun right now," Sam huffed.

Dean knotted his brow. "What is your problem now?"

"I don't have a problem," Sam said quickly. "I just don't like being made to check in because you disappear."

"What is that meant to mean?"

"Me, Jo and, I'm guessing, Molly all got a call to ask where we were. Then I get back here to find you had taken off."

"Sure I went on a cruise," Dean replied as he took off his coat and sighed. "Look I just spent the last few hours in the company of the bat twins, which was made even better when I found out that they weren't just giving me the silent treatment on the drive home when the sector cops mentioned the words cavity search. You know how much fun it is trying to talk three people out of those?"

Sam looked at his brother in silence before shrugging.

"Yeah, they looked at me like that too when the first guy got out the latex glove," Dean said as he shucked off his boots. "I'm too tired to really do 20 questions Sam about what is really bugging you so get it off your chest or can you please at least pretend that it is simply because I went on a trip so you don't go full emo on me."

Sam huffed for a second before deflating. "Okay fine you had a shitter evening than me."

"Damn straight I did," Dean said as he collapsed on his cot. "So what is really wrong, you never know, what is they say 'it might help'."

"That is close to going touchy feely chick flick you know that," Sam said.

"Well hey, shoot me – and I want some sleep after being part of Samantha trying to go Rambo over some shit someone said to her in a bar."

"Was that why you took off to Canada?" Sam asked. "Because something someone said?"

"Yeah, that someone who she didn't know asked her about how her family was doing when she was being Max," Dean replied. "But road trip aside I am glad to be back here as seeing the set up at the border – well lets just say it was probably safer to cross into Arizona without a passport back in the day than try that shit with the Canadians now."

"Really?" Sam asked. "You serious, Canadians?"

"Oh yeah, they'd cap your ass; they'd just be really nice about it before paying for a doc to patch you up," Dean replied. "So spill now or leave because as much as you are obviously 'not' going through something I would like to have some rest in a misty girl type pain filled angsty free environment."

"You have such a way with words," Sam said.

"You know you could just go up stairs and spend some quality time with Ellen," Dean suggested. "I'm sure that she would be very helpful right now with whatever is causing you to be pensive."

"Thanks," Sam said.

"Well sulk about whatever it is; see if I care," Dean replied as he got comfortable. "Or go explore or be quiet."

"Stop talking to me then," Sam replied.

"Fine I will," Dean said as he closed his eyes.

"It's just…well Jo's working, you're getting to be part of all this transgenic stuff and…."

"What you're 'bored'?" Dean asked opening one eye.

"It's not that," Sam replied. "Well, I am but…"

"I thought you were all for playing happy families right now," Dean said. "You know getting to know the mutant branch of the family while we hide from hunters in plane site so to speak."

Sam bowed his head.

"Oh Christ this isn't that you are feeling left out again is it? What are you twelve?" Dean asked.

"No it isn't that, that is going to take time and that is fine," Sam replied.

"What then?" Dean asked causing Sam to bow his head. "Jesus, it isn't the Gem thing is it?"

Sam coughed uncomfortably.

"What? Is it what that kid said to you?"

"That kid is her brother and maybe he was right."

"Great, I'm not getting any sleep today," Dean said slowly sitting up. "Right, she was willing, slightly hormonally imbalanced but you are not a sex offender no matter what her sup'd up kid brother may think, because like it or not the girl probably has the skills and strength to rip out your spine and wear it as a necklace if she didn't want you to touch her. The kid would probably think that you would be the scum of the earth if you had turned up to take her out of a soda wearing a bow tie and had brought a nun for a chaperone – happy now?"

Sam closed his book at that point took a breath.

"Okay I'll take that as a no, but tough it is all I got as for you bringing up the breeding crap so upsetting her, way to go on that one, Mr. 'Sensitive'. You're just going to have to let the girl cool down before you go and apologise. But, if you are now going to site and brood about how you don't want to freak her out by doing that too early, how about you go ask her best friend how she is doing so you know when you can go make it up to the girl and you can feel better about the situation?"

"What?"

"Molly, kid you know, who ain't a kid anymore, who has a kid herself, hangs around other mommies?" Dean said. "Might have a better idea of what you can do to so you don't blow apologising to Gem again?"

"What do you mean blow it again?"

"Look, I'm not saying marry the chick, even though you seem to be developing a thing for single moms which I never thought would be your thing. But if you getting on speaking terms with her it will make you feel better. So go talk to Molly or Ellen or Cindy or whoever might have an idea if it is safe for you to go put your foot in it again," Dean said as Sam stood up. "Hey I'm just giving you a way to be proactive here but if you got something better to do?

"I'll let you go sleep," Sam replied.

"Fine, you do that go and pull the emo crap with Jo. I'm sure she'd love it," Dean said.

"She went to work," Sam said.

"Jo on a bike; ain't that great," Dean said.

"She almost didn't go this morning," Sam explained.

"Why?"

"Not sure, I think that with your disappearing act they just went a little bit, well got a phone call wondering where I was so I'm guessing Molly and Jo got the same when they found out you had taken off with Samantha," Sam explained. "She wasn't sure if she should head out as Ellen was so stressed."

"Sorry," Dean asked.

"I don't think it is just because of you. Not that Ellen seems to be talking," Sam replied. "And I haven't had a chance to ask Dad about it – think whatever it is he's laying low too as I haven't seen him since last night."

"Really?"

"Jo went to work though, and I've been down here since," Sam said. "But Dude, seriously we got to start thinking about doing something."

Dean gestured to the staircase. "Be my guest, you go talk to Ellen."

"You know what I mean." Sam retorted to which Dean sighed.

"I know, I know, I know," Dean said. "I admit I have been been feeling the same thing."

"Especially since Jo's got a job?"

"What? You got bike envy?" Dean asked to which Sam glared.

"Okay, how about why we make sure that the crime of the centaury was pulled off okay, we sort the domestic side so we don't leave Dad with an Ellen with a large bug stuck up her ass and we start thinking about heading back onto the road?"

"Hunting again?" Sam asked grudgingly.

"Yeah, what was your plan you try and pick up a job? Where does that leave me? Because dude I'm with you on the getting bored deal – we need to do something. But our resumes aren't exactly current are they and even if they were I ain't seeing many opportunities for either of us right now if we stay here outside hustling pool at Crash," Dean replied.

"What about Dad's garage?"

"Ain't really Dad's is it and really, you and cars?" Dean asked. "Though if you want to stay here you could always try working with Molly or do research for that Logan guy?"

"You talking about bailing on family?"

"I'm not talking about bailing – I'm talking about doing like you said we hunt but we use here as a base. We come, we go, we check in on a real regular basis to ask Dad's advice so the two of you can get back to that old sparky 'stay out of my shit' vibe the two of you used to have and we technically have a place to crash that isn't a squat, hell hole or crap motel on occasion." Dean explained. "We do what we were trained to do. I'm sure it isn't going to be easy, but at some point we are going to have to do it and it isn't like any hunters have caused any problems for us yet have they?"

"You just don't want to play stand in again do you," Sam said.

"No, not really and I know you had this wonderful idea of us pretending to be transgenic so laying low which I will admit has helped with the awkward question shit for now, but having everyone of those lab rats stare at me whenever I get three blocks from that dump of theirs isn't us really lying low. It is putting a big giant target on our heads and on their heads. At least if we go out there it will be like the old days we can see them coming and deal with anyone on our terms and not have to think of the political, social and military ramifications for everyone in this city when I'm trying to think of ways to bust out of a jail cell."

"Ramifications?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Hey I'm trying here and I'm just saying that us getting out of the city even for a little while would do both of us some good, because dude remember when life was just simple?" Dean said.

Sam laughed. "Yeah, when our lives were just 'simple'"

"Well simpler," Dean said as the yelling started from upstairs.

"What the fuck?" Sam said bolting upwards.

-o-

"Don't you come like that you bastard. Keeping it from me, you damn well know you shouldn't keep things from me."

"I am dealing with it." John replied.

"Dealing with what exactly – cops, law what?"

"Ellen, this isn't the time," John yelled back. "I got to…"

"Dragging your ass in here after staying out all night before just passing through?"

"Not now."

"When then?" she asked. "When you feel like telling me, like last time?"

"It ain't like last time, I ain't sick again," he retorted. "And she shouldn't have told you!"

"What the hell else did you expect her to do – keep it secret where you went or what you are up too?"

"Stupid kid got no right telling you when I told her not too!" he said before ducking as a plate sailed past his head.

"Holy fuck," Dean muttered as he and his brother watched from the side lines.

"I didn't want you to worry." John said trying to calm her down.

"Really, didn't want me to worry and it wasn't you pulling some macho bullshit to prove you still could," Ellen replied.

"Macho bullshit?" he said.

"Yeah, macho bullshit. But that is fine you want to be a stupid old idiot."

"I am not in my grave yet '_Woman_'"

"Don't you _Woman_ me Winchester! Don't you think that I am going to let you take me for a fool just because you got some need to show that you still got it."

"Take you for a fool? Really? That is how you see it?"

"How the hell else am I meant to see it?"

He slammed a fist down on the table, before taking a breath. "There wasn't time to call and tell you where I was."

"Really? You still have the right to one phone call," she spat out with venom. "But hell, you probably used that to try and threaten an impressible kid into not tell your wife that you were asked to go downtown to help with enquiries. But as I told her, you want to be an idiot then fine, she should leave you to stew in your own shit pile."

"My shit pile?"

"Yeah, your shit pile as it was you they came looking for."

"What do you expect me to do, sit on my ass when I knew damn well what they wanted to do was ask questions about my boys!" he yelled.

"You did not just say that, you did not just say that to me," Ellen screamed as John ducked again although she didn't throw anything this time. "You think that you get them back and it all becomes about you now, you get to cut me out?"

"What bullshit are you talking about now?" John asked.

"Bullshit, you know what bullshit; you disappear out all night because….you are a sanctimonious bastard!"

"Sanctimonious bastard?"

"I lost one husband being a stupid fuck do you think I want to lose another? But if that is what you want go straight ahead."

"Don't you bring Bill into this."

"Why not? It isn't like your shit doesn't affect me in the slightest does it!" she replied. "Just like Bill didn't think his shit affected me because both of you thought you were fucking immortal before you went off to be a stupid ass."

"It wasn't like that and you know it."

"How the hell would I know what it was like?" Ellen countered. "Not like you talked to me before you disappear all night to go look out for 'your' boys. But, I guess there is no more pretending that they didn't get it from you because while I'm just hoping you are sitting in an interview room, Dean takes off on a trip out the country because of 'Sam's family'"

"What?"

"If you had been around you would damn well know," She yelled. "But no you weren't around, you were swanning off to go play with the FBI while the rest of them were worrying if the whole thing last night was blown and Samantha was probably terrified that she was going to get home and find a massacre. But it wasn't even like I was going to get that because you had decided to hand yourself over to the Feds while Dean took off across the damn border."

"Why…."

"There is more than one Sam recently in Seattle isn't there? That 'Sam's' got family too hasn't he? It isn't like anyone hasn't ever played 'games' with them have they?" Ellen yelled. "Or have you forgotten that?"

The boys looked at each other at that statement, Dean shrugging his response to Sam's silent question about what Ellen was implying, John took a moment. "You go too far…"

"But they're 'your' boys and you're going to do what you do and run off half cocked without talking to me because it isn't like you could be needed here or any shitstorm that hits will affect me and the girls at all will it?" Ellen retorted cutting him off.

He stood there for a second. "I am not talking to you about this right now, not when you are like this."

"Oh you've decided that you are not talking to me, why the hell do you think you are getting to decide when we are talking about this?" she asked as he gripped hold of the chair to try and calm his anger.

"Right fine," he growled.

"Where the hell are you going?" she yelled as he angrily turned to storm out.

"Winchester, if you slam that door don't you think of coming back here." She yelled as he reached the front door although it didn't slow him down.

Sam looked down at his brother who just shrugged before both of them took that as a signal to quietly head towards follow their father's lead.

"And where the hell do you think you two are going!"


	18. Chapter 18

**Okay, I admit this is short for me and rushed and unbeta'd so sorry, but this is really me trying to get into writing this story and hopefully I will get back to Alec, Max and Joshua soon as I miss them! But I've been neglecting the Jo thread too and she doesn't deserve it.**

* * *

"This is not a sorority hop people! Move it, move it, your feeble excuses don't cut it here." Normal yelled as he waved a clip board around, not that the employees seemed to pay any real notice. He thrust a package into the hands of a distracted courier, "Hot run sector 2. Go, go, bip, bip, bip."

Jo smirked as she sat on one of the benches.

"Any second now he's going to spark up regarding how we should be worshiping at his feet for us being paid just enough to keep us from needing to join the bread queues," said one of Jo's more vocal colleagues.

"I heard that!" Normal yelled in their direction, causing the small group of couriers to start to disperse, "Work now, unless you think that you are paid to sit on you collective butts while those packages sprout little wings and get to their destination by themselves?"

"I suppose that is our cue?" Jo said to Flip as she stood up and headed towards her bike.

"So where do you want to spend your day?" Flip asked, "Sampling the delights of Capitol Hill or would you prefer the more flavorsome Market St?"

"When the 'flavor' of Market St is so ehm…flavorsome?" Jo asked, "Anyway, from what you told me that gated community up at Capitol have there own secured courier service."

"We get a package occasionally." Flip replied with a shrug of his shoulders, "And seeing how your Normal's little pet project at the moment, he is more likely to give it to you than anyone else."

"I am not Normal's pet project," Jo curtly retorted.

"Face it Jo, when it comes to you, Normal has been laying off the usual hard time he gives new starts," Flip argued jokingly, "I know him and Sketchy go way back but its more than that, and to be honest you aren't Normal's usual type."

"His usual type?" Jo asked.

Flip shrugged, "You know completely desperate."

Jo laughed, "So I'm just desperate am I?"

"Well I was kinda hoping," Flip admitted jokingly, to which Jo playfully pushed him.

"Hey talk about shooting a guy down before he's even had the chance to make a move?"

Jo grinned. "Next thing you know you'll be inviting me over to your place for some pizza, beer and to listen to Led Zeppelin 4."

"Led what?" a confused Flip asked just as Jo caught a glimpse of Dean walking down the ramp, past a number of busy delivery guys, to start looking around the place although she was not sure why he was here.

"Jo!" Dean yelled causing almost everyone in the place to look at him to which obviously made him nervous.

"So it is true," Flip said to Jo. "You do know Normal's Rock Star?"

"You mean Alec?" Jo asked to which Flip nodded.

"Well, it explains why Normal has been laying of his usual verbal diarrhea with you," Flip said with a slight smirk.

Jo shook her head, "No that's Dean not Alec."

"Oh, is it?" Flip asked, "Rock Star has a mark 2 version does he? Did hear something about the transgenics having something like that going on."

"You know about the transgenics?" Jo asked cautiously.

"Of course, this is Seattle," he said with a shrug, causing her to look at the floor slightly embarrassed at her insinuation that he didn't know what was going on around him. "Plus I know it was years ago but who doesn't know about Normal's 15 minutes of fame. Give him half a chance he'd be selling tickets to show the tourists where the famous Jam Pony siege happened. Hell he hasn't even filled in the bullet holes upstairs."

"Sure and that isn't anything to do with the fact that it would cost money," Jo scoffed.

"That too." Flip replied, "So you been hanging with those guys for long?"

Jo hesitated for a second.

"Not that I'm judgmental. Hey if you are one I'm cool with that. You don't have to hide the code if you got one."

Jo knotted her brow, "I'm… it's hard to explain – it's complicated."

"Really?" Flip replied with a smile on his face, "You know I kinda guessed you weren't a straight forward girl."

"Stop fishing," Jo retorted her face feeling a little red as Dean started to make his way over to them.

"What's up?" Jo asked him when he joined them.

Dean opened his mouth to say something, but stopped and turned to Flip, "Hey dude, and you are?"

"This is Chris," Jo replied, "But he goes by Flip. He's helping me out today seeing how Sketchy isn't here today."

Flip smiled at Dean, "Couldn't leave your girl without an escort could I?"

"Thanks, but as Jo here will tell you herself, she don't need an escort from anyone while handling a vehicle that doesn't have anything under the hood, dude," Dean said with a smile on his face, which quickly disappeared when noting the look Jo gave him. He turned back to Flip, "I think."

"So what's up?" Jo asked.

"I need to talk to you." Dean said to her as Flip stood behind her.

"What about?" Jo replied.

"It's…" Dean started to say before looking at Flip. "Can I talk to you in private?"

"Why?" Jo replied.

A tired Dean turned to Flip, who was still standing there "Dude, can you excuse us? As really don't you have something better to do?"

Flip stood there for a second, "Yeah, sure, but Jo don't take too long. Don't want it getting back to Normal even if he does consider you to be in the Rock Star's posse."

"That's great, why don't you go sort out a package or something," Dean said grabbing Jo's arm, to take her aside.

"Do have to be so fucking rude, Dean?" Jo asked angrily.

"I'm not being rude," Dean replied. "I thanked the guy for looking out for you, didn't I? Though, why is this guy looking out for you?"

"Like it is any of your business Dean."

"Excuse me for trying to give a damn," Dean replied.

"Give a damn? You talked about me like I'm not even here," Jo said angrily.

"I did not."

"Yes you did; and what do you call what you just did to Flip?" Jo said noting at the way that her co-worker had skulked off. She turned back to Dean. "Give me a minute will you."

"But..." he started to say as she walked away from him.

"Hey, sorry about that," she said to Flip.

"It's okay, it's his damage, not yours," Flip replied.

"Yeah, but he didn't have to be an ass to you," Jo replied.

"He's your boyfriend, though he does seem to be a douche."

"He's not my boyfriend," she replied.

"I guess it's another it's complicated thing then?" Flip asked to which she didn't reply. He thought for a moment. "Well if you want to make it up to me you could let me take you for a drink?"

She laughed. "You are a complete opportunist."

"You going to shoot a guy down after he's been abused by some guy he's never talked to before. My ego's taking enough denting as it is today."

She shook her head. "Fine, rain check okay."

"I'll take what I can get," he said slapping his chest before she wandered back to Dean.

"Right, you done unruffling you pal's feathers?" Dean asked Jo as she rejoined him.

"Why are you here Dean?" she asked.

"I…you know what is going down don't you," Dean replied wearily as he rubbed his tired eyes.

"Yes, your father didn't come home last night, not that Sam really noticed. My mom is pissed at with that and the fact you went for a joy ride somewhere, so now me and from what I understand, Molly are getting warnings that I have to watch out for anything and I mean anything out of the ordinary from her because she is pissed at him," Jo replied. "And before you ask, yes I am wearing an anti possession charm and Flip has been working here for three months before we turned up in Seattle so I don't think he is wanting to do anything to me."

Dean glanced at the bulky guy in the bike vest. "Yeah, sure he doesn't."

"Even if he did, I can take care of myself, because it isn't your business," Jo retorted to which Dean looked at her quizzically.

"Dean, why are you here?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Yeah you said but that doesn't' give you the right to be a complete dick to someone you don't know?"

Dean turned to look over at Flip. "He'll get over it."

"I got to work with these people."

"Yeah, what is up with that?" Dean asked. "You never said you want a job. Anyway couldn't you find somewhere better than here?"

Jo clenched her jaw, "Oh I'm sorry I didn't consult you about my employment situation and as for doing better this place is okay."

"You've been here what a couple of days and you're saying this?"

"You see people banging at my door to give me a job? Especially seeing how I got a huge hulking gap in my resume that can only be filled by "_Got thrown through time by a moron who should have known better than fool around with an ancient ritual."_"

"I am not apologizing again, Jo," Dean said through gritted teeth.

"I'm not asking, but I work here, so cut the bull," Jo retorted. "Normal is willing to give me a shot even if Alec had to pull in a favor to get me a spot."

"Okay, I get it," Dean said resigning himself to the situation, "Is that why your pal went on about us being part of some Rock Star posse?

"It's Normal's pet name for Alec," Jo explained, "You know from when he worked in this place."

"Right," Dean answered, "Do I want to know why he's called that?"

Jo shrugged, "Sketchy said it was because Normal knew Alec before he worked here."

"How?" Dean asked, "Thought Alec got the job here to score a pass or that was what he told me."

"Yeah he did, and I'm glad he did," Jo replied with a nod, "More helpful than sitting on my butt with no idea what to do with myself."

"Okay, stop blowing smoke up my ass," Dean retorted. "I'm planning on getting back on the road eventually."

"Do it then, and stop waiting for Daddy to let you. Talk to Molly, get her to find you a case and do what you do best."

"Jo this isn't the time," Dean said tiredly.

"Why?"

"Can you get off work?"

"Why?"

"Can you or not?"

Jo shrugged, "I don't know, it's my first week might not give me the best impression with the boss."

"Try then," Dean said.

"Why the hell should I?"

"Because your mom threw a plate my Dad's head and he stormed out, so I say we've kinda got a family emergency," Dean cautiously asked.

She crossed her arms. "Dean, our parents maybe married but you know damn well that doesn't make me family to your father."

"Because…well," Dean said to which Jo stood there. "Okay, I ended up in Canada last night because some guy said something to Max's sister."

"So what does that have to do with your Dad being an ass and why do I have get time off work?" Jo asked.

Dean shrugged, "Personally I think it is a false alarm, some guy trying to jerk her, Max's and the rest of the lab rats chain's, but that is part of the reason your mom has gone crazy and after the blow out she had with my dad over him spending the night with the cops I thought it might be nice for her daughter to be there with her."

"He was with the cops?"

"Yeah, he was with the cops. Looks like they wanted to talk to him about the Ben, me and Alec thing."

"And he didn't tell her he got hauled in."

"Right, yeah he should have told her, he should have told Alec's lot, he should have called Sam. I get that but right now, after the fight he had with your Mom I don't know where he is and Ellen is ready to call in the National Guard. So I'm here to ask if you'll come home and talk to her, thought you could talk some sense into her"

"Great," Jo replied rubbing her brow in exasperation.

"I had to bust out of 'our' house to come find you, okay. Your mother is taking everything out on me and Sam and not in a 'Your father is a dick' sort of way. Actually I can see her trying to seal Sam in the basement for his own good," Dean explained.

Jo let out an involuntary laugh.

"It is not funny," Dean said. "I had to jump out the bathroom window Jo while Sam distracted her. I'm too old to be doing that because someone has decided to ground my ass supposedly for my own safety."

"Why is she doing that?"

"In case those familiars or demons or someone else comes and take you, me and Sam away and she doesn't see us in another twenty years because as she put it Max's sister isn't the only '_Sam who has family and has recently come to_ town'. Actually I'm surprised that I made it this far."

"What?"

"Don't ask me she's your mother I don't know how she thinks," Dean replied. "I'm tired Jo, I'm really tired and I need you to talk to her. You've got a better chance of dealing with her than Sam does."

Jo sighed.

"Please can you get some time off work?" Dean asked "So I can go find him and find out if there is any news about what that guy said to Samantha, Molly said she was heading over to Logan's so you're basically the best hope we got to stop your mother officially going nuclear."

"So, you want me to calm my mom down to help clean up your Dad's shit storm?"

Dean clenched his jaw. "No, I want you to take care of your Mom while I go find my Dad so we can find out where we stand with the cops before we deal with whoever else may be on our tails and with that being the case, you know that if Sam can't keep her at the house she'll be coming round here to drag your ass home. So you can either go there voluntarily or Mommy is going to come here and tell your boss that you aren't allowed to go play anymore and it doesn't matter that technically you are now in your forties because Mom will do it."

"I am not in my forties," she replied.

"Technically you are, but you look good for it," Dean said with a smirk to which she scowled at him. "Jo, I'm not bullshitting you and yeah my Dad storming out of the house means he's an ass but please."

She sighed. "Fine, but it might be an idea if you ask if I can get time off."

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Well I don't know, but from what I heard Alec could twist the guy round his little finger."

Dean eyed Jo suspiciously before turning to look over at Normal who was currently standing behind the grill handling out assignments, "What are you saying?"

"Nothing," Jo said.

Dean crossed at his arms, "So Alec and Normal go way back?"

"From the story I got told Normal first saw Alec down town weeks before he started working here. Actually Alec made Normal bundle back then."

"Tell me this is in a good way?"

Jo smirked, "Depends on how you look, tale goes Alec was working his way up through the cages."

"Cages?" Dean asked, "What the hell was he doing in a cage? Last thing you'd think that anybody from Manticore would want to do is go anywhere near a cage."

"Way Max told me getting down and dirty with the competition for the cash," Jo explained, "Though last time he had a gig she swears that part of the reason she kicked his ass was because of the stupid shorts he was wearing."

Dean took a breath, "Shorts? And cages? Don't tell me he was a stripper!"


	19. Chapter 19

**Sorry trying to balance three stories all at the same time**

**If prob with this very short chapter please let me know  
**

* * *

Molly was sitting quite contented in the Logan's kitchen as Alec spun the stool round and round the two of them trying to pretend they were listening Max and Logan's animated conversation.

"You suit your hair like that," Molly said to Alec as Max seemed to be apologising for something.

"I know but…" Alec replied. "It doesn't feel me."

"I don't know, it makes you look…grown up somehow," she said putting out a hand to brush her fingers through the cut.

"Hey, hey, hey; mind the do," Alec retorted pushing her away before settling down. "I don't know. It's too…"

"Business like?"

"You know me too well," he said slumping as Molly saw Logan slumping in resignation behind Alec.

She sighed turning her attention back towards Alec. "You know responsibility isn't something to be ashamed of."

"And spoil my rep," he said with a boyish grin causing her to smile. "You know we could go and they wouldn't notice?"

"Probably, but how will we ever know what they decided about Sam's situation?" Molly asked.

Alec shrugged. "Does that matter? Sam will tell us what she has decided to do about security anyway."

Molly chuckled. "Yeah and she'll tell Max to take her plans up and stick it up her ass, to top it off."

"Half the fun of Samantha coming to town."

"Samantha?"

"Well, he is kind of living here isn't he?" Alec said to which Molly nodded as they resumed their observations.

After a few minutes of watching the two of them continuing watch the argument Molly took a deep breath and bit her lip as Alec continued to look over his shoulder watching what Max and Logan were up to. "You busy tomorrow?"

"Why?" he said turning to face her.

"I'm just wondering can you take Aimee for me?" she asked tentatively.

He thought for a second. "Not sure. Not that I don't want to. At some point we are supposed to be seeing the guy to sell…well, you don't want details. Why?"

"No reason…hunting thing," she said. "I'll see if Mom can take her."

He raised an eyebrow. "Hunting thing? You need help with that? I can get Dix to find out who's free for you."

She quickly shook her head. "No thanks; meeting, that is all."

"Pop going?" Alec asked causing it her to shift uncomfortably in the chair.

"Bastard, aren't you."

"Moll?"

"I…I kind of…gotta…date… well I think I have," she said as she avoided his gaze and stirred her espresso.

"Really?" he said somewhat some what surprised. "That is great! If you are sure?"

"I…think so."

"You think so?" Alec asked looking behind him for a moment. "Look, I'll do something stupid to distract Logan so you can grab Maxie on this, or better yet if you want I'll tell them you have somewhere to be and you can go talk things over with Gem and Cindy?"

"Alec," she said with a sigh.

"No, look if you want to go out with someone and you need to talk…" he started to say as she grabbed his arm.

"Will you stop? Okay, I'm nervous, I admit it and it is just a drink with a guy, who is… kinda…cute," she said.

"Kinda cute?" Alec asked.

"I know it's me and there is no way he is going to become Aimee's step daddy," she said. "He's just a friend passing through, who asked me out for a drink as a friend, that is all and I didn't have a reason to say no this time."

He knotted his brow. "Do I know him?"

"Don't go territorial on my ass," she said.

"Hey, against both our wills or not, I put my mark on your neck. I should at least ask who you are seeing," he said half jokingly.

"I know it goes against your programming and in every other way you don't take that seriously, but you don't have too, you know that."

He took her hand reassuringly. "I know and I am happy for you, if you're sure this time."

"Alec, I know I keep freaking out but I have deal with my issues myself, you know, you know?" she said. "I don't need you to check up on me. I know the crew he works with, I've known this guy for a while. It's a friend, try and get back into the grove, sort of, date."

"Right," Alec replied to which she nodded. "You aren't going to even give me a name to check with Pop are you?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm not and don't go on about the possibility of setting me up with Biggs again."

"Well…he'd treat you right."

"Only because you, Joshua and Mole would scare the shit out him," Moll said.

"Wouldn't," Alec pouted.

"He gave me one complement that is all, Alec. The guy has his own life," she said. "You can't fix me or try and sort out his love life while yours is well, yours, I know you feel responsible for me, but you can't fix me by throwing one of your best friends at me."

"Aimee likes him," Alec replied.

"She likes Luke and the guy who delivers the beer to the bar too," she said firmly. "You saying I should go out with them?"

He pouted. "Okay, fine."

"Alec, no telling Dad or having someone trail us," Molly retorted.

"Seriously?" Alec said. He thought for a moment. "Can I tell Logan?"

She glared. "Seriously? You'd sic 'Eyes Only' on a guy who asked me out?"

"You'd probably get a complete history on the guy then – you know what they say, you go out with someone and you go out with out with everyone they've ever met," he said with a grin.

"Really? You'd get Logan to try and get a complete history on a nice guy who is in the life?" she said smugly.

"Keep him busy at least."

"Alec?"

"What?"

"Or is this your new idea to slowly get me use to the idea that I should go out with Logan by having him freak out by seeing what the hunters I deal with on a regular basis get up to so he'll try and spend more time with me so he can act all chivalrous and protective over the small little woman who works with the scary guys?"

"No!"

"Are you sure because you know how Aimee loves to see him or come here as there is a chance you'll let her eat what she likes?"

He glared at her for a second.

"Alec, don't be…male. You can't control what the females do," Molly said.

"Hey, it is the panther in me," he retorted as the door buzzer went. Alec got up automatically nodding to Logan and he and Max continued their discussion about what had occurred in the bar with Samantha and Dean the night before.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," Alec said as he opened the door to his template.

"Yeah, cut the cute talk," Dean said pushing in. "Molly here?"

"And it is nice to see you too," Alec said closing the door.

"No time, need to talk to both of you," Dean said before turning to head down the walk way.

Max scowled as Dean walked with purpose into the kitchen, "What are you doing here?"

"Got some family business to deal with," Dean retorted as Max crossed her arms giving Dean a steely stare.

"Yours is being dealt with Max, unless that is you don't trust your sister to protect her own family with the troops you provided," Dean said before turning to Alec and Molly. "Need to talk, you guys got five?"

Alec snorted his amusement. "Sure, got five."

"Good," Dean said as Molly got off her seat and went to lead Dean to the other room.

"We'll be back in a moment," Alec said. "Just let me know when you've decided you want to arrange the meet for the buyer."

"Alec!" Logan said.

"Be back in a moment," Alec promised as he went to follow after the other two. "He's new…kind of…remember?"

-o-

He walked in to find Dean stopping Molly going for her coat. "Dean, I should go talk to Mom."

"She's got Jo and Sam with her, if Ellen hasn't walled him up in the basement for his own good by now," Dean said. "I need you to find my Dad."

"He's her Dad too," Alec interjected causing Dean to whip round.

"You know what I mean, Dude," Dean replied.

"Dude?" Alec asked as Molly put down her coat.

"What do you mean?" Molly asked causing Dean to look between the two of them.

"Well… back in my time, I'd give him a couple of days to cool off, but now?" Dean said. "You two got at better idea where the bastard is hopefully holding up to sulk because his wife threw a plate at his head when he was being a dick."

Molly seemed to still for a second. "You are calling Dad a dick?"

"Yeah," Dean said. "I'm calling him a dick."

"You?" Alec asked.

"Yeah me," Dean said.

"Why?" Alec asked.

Dean scratched his forehead. "Look, Ellen said he spent the nights talking to the Feds by himself, which probably means he's got some stupid idea in his head to deal with it himself and he isn't exactly…and I don't like saying it, but."

"He isn't the age he used to be?" Molly said causing both men to look at her. "Come on, we are all thinking it."

"Not to mention, I am not standing back and letting him screw up, Ellen was pissed, really pissed."

"So Mom's pissed and Dad stormed out. It isn't exactly like we haven't seen it before," Molly said. "They argue and one or both of them storm out, it has always been like that. You two didn't see the mess Dad made of asking her to marry him. I ended up with Billy and a bag of diaper's living at Ash's for a week because both of them refused to set foot in the house until the other one apologised."

"What?" both men asked.

Molly shrugged. "You don't want to know."

Dean shook his head. "No, I…it isn't just that I get the feeling that it isn't just the fact that he was talking to the feds without telling her that is the problem."

Alec blanched. "No, not like last time. Please don't tell me like it was like the last time."

"Last time?" Dean asked.

"I still don't know what that one was about," Molly asked. "I don't think Mom knows what that time was about."

"Nothing, it was about nothing and we are never discussing that ever, ever again," Alec said back peddling. "There are some conversations that guys should never have to have with their elders, even if it is perfectly natural…you know he was on chemo, so you can't expect…" Alec bit his lip as both of them looked at him. "Too much information, huh?"

"Right," Dean said, turning to Molly. "First thing first, do you two have an idea where he could possibly be, considering he got pulled in by the feds to be asked questions about us? Then we can deal with the whole fact that he's stupid enough to let Ellen think that he's pushing her out."

"What?" Molly asked.

"Don't ask me, I don't know," Dean replied. "She started going on about how his family and not hers but that was after the plate so she's probably started feeling like this for a while, probably started when we got picked up by the cops. I get it and to be honest if he has been making her feel that way he probably doesn't know he's doing it, because that is my Dad and he is a stupid ass"

Alec sighed. "Garage, Albie's in sector 4 and then try Won Phi's at the end of China Town, if your usual places are a bust."

"Sure," Molly said with a nod.

"Hey, where the hell are you going?" Dean asked as Alec went to grab his jacket before kissing Molly on the forehead.

"Don't you worry about this, or let this stop you going tomorrow."

"Alec?" Molly asked.

"Seriously, Molly," Alec said as he made a move to leave. "I'm serious."

"It depends what the Feds said to him."

"Moll, if you want to go, you are going and we'll deal with that crap later," Alec yelled as he shut the door.

"Where there hell is he going?" Dean asked.

Molly sighed. "Well, Mary may be your mom, but she never was his."

Dean nodded. "Okay."


	20. Chapter 20

**Sorry this was meant to be the second half of the last chapter and it kind of makes sense if you remember this is an AU from the second half of season 2.  
**

* * *

They could hear the banging of draws and cupboards as they walked down the stairs to the dark basement of the bar. Dean grabbed Molly's arm halting her for a moment before taking the lead as she tutted and mumbled her disapproval.

"If it is him, I'll let you kick me up the ass," Dean replied.

"Fine," she replied smiling smugly. "Dad!"

"I am never sneaking up on anyone else with you," Dean said as she continued to cry out.

"For crying out loud," John retorted. "This isn't your business girl."

"My business?" Molly retorted pushing past Dean to find the light switch. John was standing under the single pallid light bulb at the old tired pine desk slowly pushing closed one of the draws. "And it isn't that you are looking for that backup address book?"

"And why the hell would I be looking for that?" John snapped.

"Because, you know why?" Molly said coming further into the weak light. "Dad, really?"

"Molly, best you keep out of this," John replied before bending down to resume his search.

"Dad?" Dean asked causing John to straighten quickly.

"If you two want to do something useful, go and leave me to this."

"And what? Let you take on the federal government by yourself?" Molly scoffed. "No we don't."

John scowled. "Who the hell says that I'm that stupid?"

"Us," Dean curtly retorted causing John to look at him, wounded at his son reply. Though the two men stared at each other, John not sure what to say and Dean not sure how to deal with the hurt look in his father's eyes.

"That didn't come out the way it was supposed to," Molly said breaking the uneasy silence that had seemed to descend on the small deserted storage space, which seemed to cause John the strength the recoup some of his pride.

"Really?" he asked, before he re- focused his attention onto looking through the draws of the desk again.

"Third one down, bottom, hidden compartment," Molly said with a sigh.

They watched him pull out the draw and fumble with it, before he pulled out a small digital memory stick. "Thanks," he said before he took a step towards him, causing Molly to smile.

"And it isn't going to be encrypted is it?' she said causing John's shoulders to slump. "And I'm not talking Eye's Only or even Ash's 'Eat up your system and take down the server 'worm embedded' encrypted, I'm talking Dougie's 'Fire of the Damned' encrypted."

"Fire of the Damned?" John asked turning.

Molly nodded. "Yep, where the virus released will probably make the pulse look like a walk in the park because the little punk makes his father look like a monk in the dark ages when it comes to running code. So we'll be lucky if the only network still functioning after you try and open that thing will be the one in Yang Shu province responsible for holding cattle records."

"You are making that up," John said.

"You want to risk it, fine. Try and open it," Molly replied. "If you want to check call the little squirt and get him to tell you if he's still doing what Leigh Ann and Ash grounded him for when he took down the 'Scientology is the True Path' site and half of Hubbard Island's electricity grid with it."

"What?" Dean asked.

"Ash's boy," John growled.

"After the pulse the Scientologists clubbed together and bought Easter Island, renamed it after Hubbard," Molly explained. "Suri Cruise has been running the place since she was crowned 'the anointed one' when she was 16 and Ash's kid almost brought the whole kit and cobbodling, tax dodging, Theta loving haven, to it's knee's when he was six years old."

Dean snorted. "You guys let Ash breed?"

"Unfortunately, nature did," John angrily retorted. "And the damn apple didn't fall far from the stinking tree."

"But hey, kid's what, 14 now? Not like he's had time to improve, has he? Or hasn't hit the stage where total nihilism wouldn't be considered fun, let alone be interested in getting some under the table, no questions asked, cash when being asked to write some code for his favourite, kind of, big cousin." She put out her hand waiting patiently for John to hand over the stick.

"You are full of shit you know that," John said to his daughter.

"Maybe, but I learned from the best," she said with a smile before pocketing the electronic storage stick.

John stilled for a moment before turning.

"Dad, what the fuck did the Feds say?" Dean called out causing John to stall.

"I'll deal with it," John retorted.

"Really? The cult loving, inbred mortal enemies of the genetically altered club have let be known they are playing with drugs that melt the…the weirdo… cloney… oh, at least Alec's brain after trying to cut off the supply of the thing that keeps them from having seizures and now may or may not be threatening the family of someone called Sam. And there also the fact that your marriage seems to possibly be beginning to melt down, all of which seems to be linked somehow to the fact that you got three long lost family members popping up in your back yard after almost 20years. Who have been god knows were, reappearing now because…god knows why? Because really Dad I'd really want to know if there is anything going on about that last part. But, instead of dealing with any of that, you want to go play one man army against the Feds as they've been asking questions about someone who is dead and me and Sam. Because that is what they asked you about, wasn't it? They asked you if me and the 'Tooth Fairy' were the same person."

"Don't Dean, don't you dare," John snapped angrily.

"Why not?" Dean asked. "You can't go running off to fight battles for other people any more Dad. This isn't the demon that killed Mom, you are looking for. You do this and it isn't just you, me and Sam that have to deal and I am tired of it."

"Tired of it?"

"Yeah, god damn it I'm tired," Dean stated. "You don't get to act like a righteous bastard this time. You don't get to act like you are avenging or protecting someone because you never knew him. This Ben kid, he isn't…anything really to do with us, we aren't to blame for that kid going psycho so you can't act like you are defending him or even me because I'm here Dad, I'm here and Sam is and Jo is and Molly here is too and even…Alec is. Ben, I'm sorry but you never knew the kid. So don't you screw up what you have; especially when we don't have time for it because you are trying to act the macho bastard to ease your conscious; because I am not cleaning up your mess. I am damn well not doing this time."

"What the hell are you talking about?" John asked.

"Mom I got," Dean said. "I covered your back and I did as you said, I took care of Sam, did the best I could for him while you tried to make what happened to Mom…better. But this? There is a lot of shit going down, Dad. I lost you once because you did something monumentally stupid when a lot less was happening to save me. So, I'm telling you, you got a good thing going here as crazy as it seems. Me and Sam, we're here, not planning on going anywhere too far right now, you got lab rats crawling out of the wood work that seem to think that you and Ellen's set up is basically 'Home and Garden' and you are risking it all and I'm not going to pick up the pieces; because for one thing I got no idea how to."

"What?"

"Dad what did the Feds say to you?" Molly asked. "I get Mom probably didn't let you get a word in but to try and break out the back up snitch list? What the hell did they say that caused such a rattle. The judge coshed their warrants and you know that no authority is going to risk out right war by going against that, not right now and not over cold cases, even one involving a serial killer that is over five years cold."

John took a breath. "It's best you guys don't get involved."

"Involved?" Dean said. "Dad, we are involved. Thanks to some guy saying something to Samantha last night the transgenics, rightly or wrongly, are one step closer to circling the wagons. This family doesn't have time for you to go off the reservation while acting like a geriatric Rambo."

"Geriatric Rambo?" John repeated.

"You know what I mean," Dean replied.

"Thanks," John retorted sarcastically.

"Dad, seriously don't make me get Alec to come down here to have another conversation about the time you last you walked out on Ellen, because if I got the idea right about what he was hinting at it is a conversation you damn well don't want dragging up again and especially not in front of your daughter here."

"Excuse me?" Molly asked.

John turned to the girl. "You wait outside."

"What?" Molly asked.

"Girl, go now!" he growled pointing to the door.

"We'll be out soon," Dean said firmly as Molly took a breath before doing as she was told. John watched as the girl closed the door before turning to face his son.

"You are out of line," John snapped.

"So are you."

John narrowed his gaze. "When the hell did you become…"

"When you left, when you decided to sacrifice yourself, Dad," Dean said. "I get why the hell you did, but I don't have to like it and I am not standing back this time while you try and do it again, because really that is what it is, isn't it. You trying to protect everyone, control everything and Dad, it isn't going to work."

"Seriously Dean, you don't know what you are talking about," John said.

"Well let me in, so I do. I am not a kid anymore, Christ Dad you told me yourself I never really got a chance to be. Hell, technically I'm more than halfway to retirement," Dean said. "So tell me what is so important that you got to deal with this now when the shit is hitting the fan everywhere else?"

"It isn't just about Ben or you or taking out Henricksen."

"Then what? The back up snitch list? Is that something that belongs to Eye's…whoever Logan and Molly work for?" Dean asked. "Why are you trying to get into that if it isn't about you going after the Feds? Because from what I've seen that guy is solely about some infantile need to go stick to the man."

"Dean, you wouldn't understand."

"Why?"

John took a breath.

"Dad, I am not rolling over for you this time," Dean said. "I am not, I am not just going to… because; I can't do that anymore. I can't just go with what you say not after what you said to me, after you told me to save him or kill him, Dad. I saved him the best I could because Sammy's still here. And I saved you too because otherwise you wouldn't be standing here and okay I didn't mean to, I hit Sammy and Jo and Molly with the throwback from it. So I deserve to know."

"Fine," John replied. "You want to know what I'm trying to do?"

"Yeah."

"I'm trying to stop it going to the wall faster than it already is."

"Really."

"Lydecker is back Dean, he's working with the government. Lydecker, and he wants to know about you and Alec and his damn kids and you think they are circling the wagons now you just wait and see what they will do when they find out he's back after all these years."

"Okay, that isn't exactly what I was expecting," Dean stated before knotting his brow. "Dad, who the hell is Lydecker,?"


End file.
